On October 9, 2025, NWLC and the American Association for Justice, joined by Public Justice, Equal Rights Advocates, and the National Employment Lawyers Association, filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Newton v. LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton Inc. The brief argues that the Second Circuit should reverse the district court’s ruling that the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (EFAA) does not apply to some of Plaintiff Andowah Newton’s claims that her employer retaliated against her for reporting sexual harassment. It also argues that the district court’s dismissal of Ms. Newton’s case should be reversed because she plausibly alleged that her employer engaged in a pattern of retaliation that continued after the EFAA’s enactment.

When Ms. Newton reported that a colleague sexually harassed and assaulted her, she alleged that her employer began a pattern of retaliation that culminated in her termination. After forcing her case into arbitration, her employer initiated its own claim against her, demanding she pay its legal fees. In 2021, Ms. Newton testified to Congress about her experience being forced into arbitration by her employer after she attempted to assert her right to be free from gender discrimination in court. As the brief notes, Congress passed the EFAA to ensure that survivors of sexual assault and sex-based harassment could seek justice in court instead of being forced into arbitration proceedings. The brief argues that, because she alleged a retaliatory hostile work environment that continued after the EFAA’s enactment, the EFAA applies to Ms. Newton’s entire retaliatory-hostile-work-environment claim and gives her the right to bring that claim in court if she chooses.