Grab your pearls for clutching, and let’s get into this recent federal court decision to find out. Last week, I talked about how having a signed arbitration agreement is generally a prerequisite to requiring an employee to arbitrate employment claims against the company. If you have a signed arbitration agreement,…
Articles Posted in Arbitration
PRO-TIP: If you want to arbitrate employment claims, have an arbitration agreement.
A client embroiled in an employment dispute with a former employee once asked me if we could force the employee into arbitration. So, I asked the client for a copy of the arbitration agreement that the individual had signed. After an uncomfortably long pause, I went back to drafting the…
Supreme Court makes it harder for employers who litigate arbitrable claims to change their minds
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that federal courts may not adopt an arbitration-specific waiver rule demanding a showing of prejudice. Huh? Before translating legalese into plain English, I want to apologize to those expecting the follow-up to yesterday’s post about what Major League Baseball should do…
First, they banned forced #MeToo arbitration. Is arbitration of ALL employment claims doomed too?
On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 into law. The name of the new law speaks for itself. Victims of sexual harassment or sexual assault at work that previously signed arbitration agreements can arbitrate their claims but don’t…
Don’t ruin your arbitration agreements by doing this…
Some of you require your employees to sign agreements requiring them to arbitrate employment claims — other than claims of sexual harassment or abuse, of course. But what happens if your employees later sign another agreement — a severance agreement, for example — that doesn’t contain an arbitration provision? One…
Biden signs #MeToo arbitration bill, Philly drops masks, and EEOC updates its COVID-19 guidance
What a Friday trifecta! The only thing better that could come in threes would be a gallon of Neapolitan ice cream — with chocolate instead of strawberry and vanilla. Beards up! Masks down. Speaking of threes, the Philadelphia 76ers have been flashing championship form since the arrival of James Harden…
This one goes out to all you New Jersey arbitration nerds.
If, like me, you’ve always wondered whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts a 2019 amendment to New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) that prohibits the waiver of procedural and substantive rights under the LAD, try to remain calm. I’m about to blow the lid off this jawn. (The rest…
You can start playing Taps for your company’s agreements to arbitrate sexual harassment claims
On Tuesday, I warned you that your company’s arbitration agreements for sexual harassment claims might not survive February intact. Folks, they may not make it to the Super Bowl. On Monday night, the House voted 335-97 to pass the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of…
Your company’s arbitration agreements for sexual harassment claims may not survive February intact.
Back in the Summer, during one of my rare deviations from blogging about COVID-19, I slipped in a post about a bipartisan effort in Congress to end the forced arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment claims. Six months later, there are some real signs that this Bill will make…
See you in court, err, arbitration! SCOTUS to decide whether litigating an employment dispute first precludes arbitrating it later
Freepik, Vital Gorbachev, Smashicons edited by Bruce The Deus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons If your company makes its employees sign arbitration agreements, then this post is for you. The rest of you can get an early start on happy hour find something else to read while sipping your…