CALIFORNIA ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS FOR EMPLOYEES LIMITED (AGAIN) The recent California Court of Appeal decision of Villalobos v. Maersk held that the employer’s referring to arbitration rules in employee handbooks or agreements is insufficient to designate arbitrability questions to the arbitrator. Many agreements state that disputes will be handled under JAMS...
Arbitration Agreements/Employee Handbooks – Update Yours A new case (Ford v. The Silver F, Inc.) highlights how California employee handbooks with outdated arbitration language can undermine an employer's ability to require arbitration of employee claims, even when the legal landscape shifted in the employer’s favor in 2022 with the U.S....
Transportation Workers Might Be Able to Sue in Court Rather than Be Required to Arbitrate The U.S. Supreme Court recently clarified that transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce are exempt from mandatory arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). This exemption extends beyond traditional transportation industry employees like those at...
SUPREME COURT RULES ON PAGA ARBITRATION The United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Moriana v. Viking River Cruises, Inc., that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) overrules, in part, California Supreme Court authority limiting the application of arbitration agreements to representative actions brought under California’s Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”)....
Arbitration Clause Federal Ban In Effect We previously wrote on the upcoming federal ban on arbitration clauses for sexual-harassment and sexual assault claims and advised that employers should review employment agreements, handbooks, and policies that previously required arbitration of employee disputes, and to exclude sexual harassment and sexual assault claims. ...
Employers in All States: No More Pre-Dispute Arbitration Employers often include arbitration clauses in employee handbooks and policies. However, arbitration of sexual assault or harassment employee claims cannot be enforced. California has been opposed to secret arbitration of these types of claims and now a federal ban on pre-dispute...
NEW EMPLOYMENT LAWS FOR 2022 It is a new year, with new employment laws. Here’s a synopsis: No More Confidentiality Provisions In Settlement Agreements California law previously prohibited the use of confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements involving claims of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and sex discrimination. Now, the legislature broadened...
California Ban on Mandatory Employment Arbitration Agreements California Employers previously could require that employees sign and abide by mandatory arbitration agreements in pursuing any employment claims - until now. The California legislature enacted Assembly Bill 51, prohibiting mandatory arbitration agreements for any claims under the California Fair Employment and Housing...
EMPLOYER MIS-TRANSLATION OF EMPLOYEE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT CLAUSE CAUSES PROCEDURAL PROBLEMS In the case of Western Bagel Co., Inc. v Superior Court, decided July 17th, the employer’s translation from English to Spanish of a mandatory arbitration clause was at issue. The Spanish version suggested non-binding arbitration; the English said binding arbitration....