Commentary on Issues Facing California Employers
One of my least favorite phrases in blogging is “repurposing content.” The verb “repurposing” hurts my ears. You can give something a purpose, but you’re not “purposing” it. And if “purposing” isn’t a verb, how did “repurposing” become one?
While I hate the term, I love the concept. We’ve posted to this blog over 550…
California’s legislature has passed two new statutes that increase the protections for employees arbitrating workplace disputes.
SB 1007, which passed on September 1, 2016, gives any party to arbitration proceedings “the right to have a certified shorthand reporter transcribe any deposition, proceeding, or hearing as the official record.” I routinely advise employers to have…
We’ve written extensively about mandatory workplace arbitration. But it was still an honor when CEB, a program of the University of California that is cosponsored by the State Bar of California, asked me to write a guest post for their CEBlog on the pros and cons of implementing such a program. You can read that …
My colleague Brian Berkley in Philadelphia wrote a piece in today’s Law360 titled “Can Opt-Out Provisions Save Arbitration Clauses?” He focuses on recent litigation involving Uber and its efforts to enforce arbitration agreements (which include class action waivers) against employees seeking to litigate wage and hour claims in court. Brian explains that Uber…
A recently completed five-day arbitration with twenty-one witnesses, reminded me of the upsides of employment arbitrations (especially when I compare my situation to that of my colleagues who are preparing for jury trials in similar cases).
While we have written a lot here about the enforceability of class action waivers in such agreements, there are…
We asked nearly 4 years ago if Armendariz (the key California Supreme Court case from 2004 on employment arbitration) was on a collision course with Concepcion (the US Supreme Court case from 2011). Concepcion said that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts state laws that “stand[] as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the…
Last week, the state legislature passed AB 465 — a bill that prohibits employers from asking employees to agree to arbitrate employment claims unless the employees have their own attorneys negotiate the terms. Passing the bill looks like a futile exercise. The Federal Arbitration Act preempts state law in this area. In 2011, when the…
For years, the rules surrounding employment arbitration agreements in California have been in a state of flux. In light of the US Supreme Court’s decision this week not to grant review in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation, that law remains unsettled. This uncertainty may persuade some employers not to put arbitration policies in place or…
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