On Tuesday, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) introduced and successfully shepherded through debate a meaningful contracting reform amendment to the FY 2010 Defense Appropriations bill. The amendment will defund contractors that block their employees from bringing workplace sexual assault cases to court, forcing contractors to amend their policies or face losing tons of money.

Franken was motivated to introduce the amendment by the story of Jamie Leigh Jones. In 2005, while working for Halliburton/KBR in Iraq, Jones was raped by several co-workers. In an apparent attempt to cover up the incident, KBR management locked Jones into a shipping container for 24 hours and told her that she would no longer have a job if she sought outside medical attention for her injuries.

The employment contract Jones signed with KBR required her claims to be heard in private arbitration, a proceeding without a public record or transcript. Since 2005, Jones has been battling KBR and the courts to have her claims heard (Ed. – fortunately, just last month, a court ruled that Jones' suit could move forward). After Jones went public, a number of women began to come forward, claiming that they had also been sexually assaulted while employees of KBR and then either coerced into keeping quite or forced into arbitration.

Franken's amendment, if kept after reconciliation with the House, which it should be, will, as the senator said during floor debate, prevent defense contractors from "using fine print in their contracts to deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court." Franken and his staff's approach to this reform is smart and laudable. Taking on a specific issue or loophole by making contractors choose between cleaning up their acts or losing money is a surefire way to ensure the former.

Image by Flickr user Aaron Landry used under a Creative Commons license.