How Gretchen Carlson is carrying on the #MeToo fight
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Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson's advocacy group is launching a new corporate scorecard to shine a light on the secretive practices companies use to silence workers about sexual harassment and discrimination.
Why it matters: The idea behind the Lift Our Voices scoring system is to track employers' use of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and forced arbitration (secret courts outside the public system) — similar to how other surveys examine benefits like health insurance or paid leave.
Catch up quick: Carlson, a former Fox News host, cofounded the nonprofit with Julie Roginsky, also formerly with the network. Neither can talk about their experiences at Fox because of NDAs.
- "I may never own my own truth. And you know, it's crazy, because people think I do. They'll say to me, 'Hey, I loved your movie,' 'I loved your mini series,' and I'm like, they were not mine," Carlson tells Axios.
Carlson pushed to get two federal laws passed on these issues:
- The Ending Forced Arbitration Act, which she started working on in 2017 at the height of the MeToo movement, bans the use of forced arbitration in sexual harassment or assault cases and was passed in early 2022.
- Later that year, she started pushing for the Speak Out Act, which prohibits the use of NDAs to silence workers about sexual harassment and assault claims before any dispute has actually happened. It was signed that December.
Between the lines: Awareness of these laws is key to their actual usefulness. If you don't know it's illegal to be forced into arbitration, you can simply wind up there.
- A majority of respondents to a separate Lift Our Voices survey were unaware of either law.
How it works: Starting in January, the group will send out surveys to Russell 3000 firms.
- Among the questions for human resource officers: Do they use forced arbitration to resolve employee disputes? Are NDAs used in employment contracts outside of protecting IP? Are the firms even aware of the two laws?
Companies already taking steps on these issues will want to publicize their efforts, Carlson says.
- "Why wouldn't they want to tell people that they don't silence their workers?" she says.
- For everyone else, a.k.a. the majority of employers: "We want to help carry them along to get to the right place. So we're not going to vilify them. We are simply giving them a soft nudge to get on the right side of history."
Reality check: The survey and ranking system come at a time when businesses have been going silent on social justice issues of all kinds — against a fierce backlash.
- Companies are walking away from the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which ranks businesses on their commitment to LGBTQ+ rights.
- The tailwind of #MeToo — Carlson's lawsuit against Fox's Roger Ailes helped launch that movement — seems less fierce at the moment, as well.
- None of the survey recipients are under any obligation to answer, and given the thorny legal issues, it's hard to imagine many will.
Zoom out: Carlson and Roginsky say their index is different — it's about all workers, not any specific demographic group.
- Still, getting employers to go public about systems they use to keep matters private is a big ask.
- Says Carlson: "We're really excited about being able to start this process, and we're not naive enough to think that it's not going to take years for it to catch on."
