You and your employees can agree to have a private arbitrator decide employee issues rather than a jury of your supposed “peers.” Arbitration of employee claims is experiencing resurgence. Since the California Supreme Court’s 2000 Armendariz decision, the utility of mandatory binding arbitration had diminished, particularly for small/medium employers. But decisions from the United States Supreme Court have since brought mandatory arbitration back to life especially in the context of class action and representative action waivers and possibly in overruling the Armendariz requirements. If you are wondering how arbitration works or whether it is right for your business, call or e-mail us now for a free consultation.
Arbitration is a critical tool for California and small and medium businesses to deal with the escalating costs of traditional litigation. Arbitration allows employer-employee disputes to be resolved in a quicker, less formal manner. That does not sit well with many judges and plaintiff’s attorneys, who continue to mount attacks on the validity of arbitration agreements despite the mandates of …
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Employee handbooks are an essential legal document that every California small and medium business (SMB) should have. An effective employee handbook spells out what you expect from your employees and helps protect your business from potential lawsuits. But if you want an enforceable arbitration agreement for employment disputes don’t bury it in your employee handbook. Use a separate stand-alone arbitration …
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Arbitration has always been a controversial issue in California employment law. State judges are typically more hostile towards private arbitration agreements than federal courts. This puts a burden on employers, who must fight just to enforce arbitration agreements that their employees agreed to. But even when employers offer arbitration agreements under clear terms it can take a trip to federal …
Continue Reading »More good news for California employers on the employment arbitration front.
Within one month, we have two California courts of appeal ensuring employment arbitration agreements are enforced according to their terms, as they should be.
The California Supreme Court has ruled California employers may avoid employee class action lawsuits through binding arbitration. (Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 6/23/2014). This is clearly a big win for all employers, large and small.
Continue Reading »Can an employer and employee agree to litigate wage claims before an arbitrator rather than the Labor Commissioner?
Two days ago, the California Supreme Court issued its Sonic-Calabasas II decision that was supposed to answer that question. But the case creates more confusion in an already uncertain and hotly litigated area of law.
Recent rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States have called into question key California arbitration decisions. US Supreme Court decisions such as Preston v. Ferrer (2008), Stolt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds International Corp. (2010), AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (2011), and American Express v. Italian Colors Rest. (2013) have made clear federal law under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) trumps …
Continue Reading »We recently posted on class arbitration rules for business. Just 10 days later, the US Supreme Court has issued another ruling enforcing class arbitration waivers in binding arbitration agreements.
The case is American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant (6/20/2013). It says a large charge card company can require its small business merchant customer to arbitrate on a one-on-one basis only, not …
In a trio of cases since 2010, the US Supreme Court has telegraphed “best practices” for avoiding class arbitrations for consumer and employee claims.
Best Practices To Avoid Class Actions And Class-Wide Arbitration
First the “best practices.” If you are a businesses that wants to arbitrate disputes but wants to prevent class wide arbitration pay attention. The US Supreme Court appears to …
Since the California Supreme Court’s Armendariz decision, arbitration agreements under California law have been bitter sweet.
California small-medium businesses (SMB’s) can impose mandatory arbitration agreements on employees to arbitrate employment related disputes, but must pay for all fees and costs associated with the arbitration.
Mandatory binding arbitration removes the case from a jury and requires the plaintiff employee to sue your business before …
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