Protecting Older Americans Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4120 To amend title 9 of the United States Code with respect to arbitration of disputes involving age discrimination. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 14, 2023 Ms. MACE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 9 of the United States Code with respect to arbitration of disputes involving age discrimination. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Older 4 Americans Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES INVOLV- 6 ING AGE DISCRIMINATION. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title 9 of the United States Code 8 is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4120.IH H4120 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4120 IH ‘‘CHAPTER 5—ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES 1 INVOLVING AGE DISCRIMINATION 2 ‘‘Sec. ‘‘501. Definitions. ‘‘502. No validity or enforceability. ‘‘§ 501. Definitions 3 ‘‘In this chapter: 4 ‘‘(1) AGE DISCRIMINATION DISPUTE.—The 5 term ‘age discrimination dispute’ means a dispute 6 relating to conduct that is alleged to constitute age 7 discrimination against a person who is not less than 8 40 years of age in any form, including disparate 9 treatment, disparate impact, harassment, and retal- 10 iation, that is prohibited under applicable Federal, 11 Tribal, or State law (including local law). 12 ‘‘(2) PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT; 13 PREDISPUTE JOINT-ACTION WAIVER.—The terms 14 ‘predispute arbitration agreement’ and ‘predispute 15 joint-action waiver’ have the meanings given the 16 terms in section 401. 17 ‘‘§ 502. No validity or enforceability 18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro- 19 vision of this title, at the election of the person alleging 20 conduct constituting an age discrimination dispute, or the 21 named representative of a class or in a collective action 22 alleging such conduct, no predispute arbitration agree- 23 ment or predispute joint-action waiver shall be valid or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4120.IH H4120 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4120 IH enforceable with respect to a case which is filed under 1 Federal, Tribal, or State law and relates to the age dis- 2 crimination dispute. 3 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF APPLICABILITY.—An issue 4 as to whether this chapter applies with respect to a dispute 5 shall be determined under Federal law. The applicability 6 of this chapter to an agreement to arbitrate and the valid- 7 ity and enforceability of an agreement to which this chap- 8 ter applies shall be determined by a court, rather than 9 an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting 10 arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifi- 11 cally or in conjunction with other terms of the contract 12 containing such agreement, and irrespective of whether 13 the agreement purports to delegate such determinations 14 to an arbitrator.’’. 15 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title 9 of the United States 17 Code is amended— 18 (A) in section 2, by inserting ‘‘or 5’’ before 19 the period at the end; 20 (B) in section 208, in the second sentence, 21 by inserting ‘‘or 5’’ before the period at the 22 end; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4120.IH H4120 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4120 IH (C) in section 307, in the second sentence, 1 by inserting ‘‘or 5’’ before the period at the 2 end. 3 (2) TABLE OF CHAPTERS.—The table of chap- 4 ters for title 9, United States Code, is amended by 5 adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘5. Arbitration of disputes involving age discrimination 501.’’. SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY. 7 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 8 shall apply with respect to any dispute or claim that arises 9 or accrues on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4120.IH H4120 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS