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Makes predispute mandatory arbitration and class‑waiver provisions unenforceable for future employment, consumer, antitrust, and civil‑rights claims and adds a new chapter to Title 9 of the U.S. Code.
Official title: To amend title 9 of the United States Code with respect to arbitration.
Introduced September 15, 2025 by Hank Johnson · Last progress September 15, 2025
The bill shifts dispute resolution power away from forced private arbitration toward public courts—expanding access to collective remedies and enforcement while increasing litigation exposure and uncertainty for businesses and creating trade-offs between transparency, speed, and cost.
Workers, consumers, civil-rights plaintiffs, and small businesses regain or retain the ability to bring employment, consumer-protection, antitrust, and civil-rights disputes in court and (where appropriate) as class or collective actions instead of being forced into individual arbitration, increasing access to collective remedies and potential relief.
Consumers and small businesses can pursue class or joint actions against widespread harms (e.g., deceptive practices or anticompetitive conduct), improving chances of remediation and deterrence against repeat offenders.
Updating Title 9 and placing a new chapter in a uniform statutory location reduces legal ambiguity and creates clearer arbitration rules, helping courts and attorneys resolve disputes more predictably and potentially speeding case processing.
Employers and businesses — particularly small firms — face higher litigation exposure and potentially larger, less predictable liability as more disputes go to court and class actions increase, which could raise prices for consumers or reduce hiring.
If the new statutory chapter preserves or expands mandatory arbitration provisions, workers and consumers could lose access to courts and class remedies for serious claims despite other reforms.
Some claimants who previously used arbitration may face longer and more uncertain dispute resolution timelines in court compared with faster arbitration, delaying relief for individuals and businesses.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits predispute arbitration clauses that require people, workers, or small businesses to resolve future employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil‑rights claims in private arbitration instead of court, and bars contract terms that block class, collective, or joint actions for those disputes. The law adds a new chapter to Title 9 of the U.S. Code, makes technical conforming changes, takes effect on enactment for disputes arising on or after that date, and preserves voluntary arbitration after a dispute has already arisen.