A bill passed by Congress and expected to be signed by President Joe Biden bars employers from requiring workers victimized by sexual assault or sexual harassment to go through workplace arbitration rather than the legal system, according to an Associated Press report published in Friday’s edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

The proposal will make a good law. As the measure’s chief sponsor, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, noted, arbitration requirements by some employers deny Americans their constitutional right to redress in our courts.

After all, our court system is charged to provide balance to parties in dispute. An arbitration process is not under the same historic expectation to counter power imbalances.

Gillibrand is also right that the arbitration approach allows employers too much secrecy in how allegations are addressed and resolved — secrecy that fails to equip women the information they deserve when deciding where to work and to pursue their careers.

The bill was narrowly written to apply only to allegations of sexual misconduct — not as a referendum on employers’ arbitration requirements overall or even in any other instance.

The U.S. House passed the bill 335-97 with U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, R-Kreamer, voting for it, while a bipartisan majority in the Senate also passed the proposal.

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, who accused the then-CEO of the network of harassment in 2016 — accusations she backed up with recordings of his abusive remarks, testified in favor of the bill, saying, “marching in the streets can inspire us … but legislation is the only thing that lasts.”

And as one of the Republican senators to support the bill, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said, according to the wire service Reuters, “survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment … will not be silenced.”

We can all respect that Congress has taken the appropriate steps toward ending the silencing of victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault.