Arbitration/Mediation

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,…Read More

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…Read More

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…Read More

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 cases are Tiri v. Lucky Chances, Inc. (5/14/2014) and Malone v.…Read More

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. California Employment Arbitration Agreements For California employers, arbitration…Read More

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…Read More

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…Read More

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…Read More

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…Read More

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…Read More