“I felt very unsafe,” Ms. Spottiswoode mentioned. “I was very afraid for my life and well being.”

Natalie Cerny, a spokeswoman for Afiniti, mentioned in a press release on Tuesday that the corporate had investigated Ms. Spottiswoode’s claims “with independent counsel and concluded that the arbitral decision she references was erroneous.”

“Zia Chishti strongly disputes all accusations against him,” Ms. Cerny mentioned.

The laws, which was launched by Representative Cheri Bustos, Democrat of Illinois, and Representative Morgan Griffith, Republican of Virginia, has bipartisan assist and would finish compelled arbitration for survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment.

An equivalent model of the invoice was just lately handed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The House committee is scheduled to vote on the laws on Wednesday. If it passes, it’ll go earlier than the House for a full vote.

Sarah Parshall Perry, a authorized fellow on the Heritage Foundation, a conservative suppose tank, testified towards the laws, saying that arbitration shouldn’t be conflated with confidentiality clauses. Under federal legislation, she mentioned, staff are allowed to reveal what occurred in arbitration hearings, report what occurred and take their complaints to different public businesses.

She warned that the laws may pressure extra instances into federal courtroom and result in longer, costlier authorized proceedings that may not profit staff or maintain “bad actors” accountable.

“The very premise of this hearing, that arbitration keeps victims of sexual violence and harassment in the shadows, suggests a solution to the problem of harassment and discrimination that’s ultimately misguided,” Ms. Parshall Perry mentioned. “Curtailing access to arbitration would injure, in the end, the very people that Congress has sought for nearly a century to protect.”