My employer made me to sign an arbitration agreement that waives my right to a jury. I signed it. What now?
 |
| "You're hired. Now please sign this arbitration agreement!" |
Big business and insurance companies promote arbitration as
a good thing for employees. It isn’t.
What is Arbitration?
Arbitration is “alternative dispute resolution” … resolving legal
claims outside of court. The arbitrator, usually a retired judge, or an
attorney, hears the evidence and decides … no jury.
“Big business” claims arbitration is a rapid, cost
effective, time effective method to resolve claims. Sounds good, right? That depends on whether
you are an employer or employee.
Most of the time employees don’t have a choice. It’s either
sign, or no job. No opportunity to bargain is offered. Take
or leave it no matter what it says.
Some arbitration agreements have an “opt out period.” Unfortunately,
most employees just sign agreements and never read them. They could have signed a piece of paper that gave
away their first born child and would have no idea. Of those that do read them,
rarely do they “opt out,” because they think it sends the wrong message to their employer.
So why are these agreements so bad from the employee’s perspective?
Employers wouldn’t push arbitration agreements if arbitration
didn’t benefit them. Which means that
the employee losses something in the process; rights.
Arbitration is rarely faster than court.
Arbitration is rarely faster than regular court proceedings.
When it is faster, it is because someone short-circuited the standard process
to get things to go faster. The ability to get evidence and testimony is limited.
Since employers control the vast
majority of witnesses and documents limiting discovery hurts employees.
How much does it cost?
Arbitration for employees costs what the employee would pay to
file a lawsuit in court. The employer pays the rest.
Sounds good? Not
really. Since Arbitrators are paid by
your employer and your employer gets to use the same ones again and again who
do they favor?
Most employees have never sued employers, so this process is
new for most of them. Employers become hardened by the process, they know who
the best/worst arbitrators are, and they are responsible for paying the
arbitrator their time on the case.
Don’t I have a right to a jury?
A jury doesn’t weigh in. The arbitrator makes all decisions
in arbitration.
One of our constitutional rights in California is to have
our civil disputes heard by a jury. Art. 1 Sec 16 of the Ca. Const. states
“Trial by jury is an inviolate right and shall be secured to all...” It also
says two sentences later that a civil jury trial may be waived by consent.
That’s why there is that bold sentence in most arbitration agreements alerts
you to this waiver.
Summary
In summary the benefits of arbitration are slim to none,
except for confidentiality which helps both parties (employers who don’t want
other employees to know about the lawsuit or its outcome/ employee who doesn’t
want future employers to have knowledge of a public legal proceeding in court
against a former employer.)
If you were to refuse arbitration, most employers would
refuse to hire you. But, you need a job and many employers have them so your
next job offer could include one anyway. Not many options.
Action
We represent employees in court and in arbitration when they
sue their employers. The best time to
talk to us is while you are still on the job.
Call us at 714.508.6422 or email to helpme@firedme.com
