October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Attorney General Steve Six wrote a great op-ed about it I posted yesterday, talking about the work he is doing to both prevent sexual assault and to prevent domestic violence. I think one thing we can all agree on is that rape and abuse is wrong, its illegal, and people who commit acts of violence and rape must be held accountable. This is a no brainier, right? Not to Senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts.
This week Senator Al Franken submitted an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would not give contracts to defense companies “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court” according to the MinnPost.
The reason that this bill is needed is not just because its the right thing to do, (it is) its because its actually become a problem. An employee working for defense contractor KBR – which is a subsidiary of Halliburton – was gang-rapped by KBR/Halliburton employees for hours, thrown into a shipping container, and told she couldn’t seek medical attention or she’d be fired. So what do you do? Well, you go to court, right? I mean that’s what police and courts and the law is all about, they protect you, your children, your wives, your mothers all of us when we’ve been wronged.
Not if you’re working for these guys. According to ThinkProgress, the Department of Justice decided it shouldn’t bring charges because it was a matter having to do with her employment so it should go to a private employment arbitration. Meaning a room with an impartial person who decides with the two parties present that yes… rape is wrong. That was the only court that could see/hear this case according to the Justice Department.
This has been going on for a while – but ultimately – about a month ago – a court decided that was a crap reason and it should go to trial. So, good news is it will.
But now its time to think about how to prevent this… because this is wrong, because rape is bad and if you’re ever assaulted, sexual or otherwise, by your co-workers while you’re at work, no contract you sign should preclude you from being able to seek justice. So, the US Senate decided that we should maybe not give tax payer funds to companies that require their employees don’t get to seek justice.
Sen. Franken’s amendment says – no company receiving federal funds gets to prevent due process.
Sen. Pat Roberts and Sen. Sam Brownback voted against it.
I’m sure Roberts is just an old out of touch elected official who probably didn’t know what he was voting against that day anyway, but Sen. Brownback is the father of three daughters. Three daughters… and he thinks rape is acceptable enough that courts have no power to hold someone accountable for it.
I would have thought that someone with Brownback’s so called Christian values, someone who’s so intent on stopping the genocide in Darfur simply because of the kinds of assaults we’re talking about here – would be able to say that rape isn’t ok and an employee deserves to seek their day in court.
I thought I couldn’t be shocked anymore, I was wrong.
Loading ...