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Utah Is Very Arbitration Friendly

At a time when some courts seem willing to write arbitration clauses out of contracts because of perceived fairness issues, Utah is firmly and liberally behind them. The Utah Court of Appeals recently confirmed Utah’s very strong policy in favor of arbitration and its liberal construction of arbitration clauses. Although not decided in the context […]

| 2 min read | Tagged: , ,
MM

Arizona’s Seldom Discussed Statutory Prohibition of Arbitration Agreements Between Employers and Employees

There has been much publicity recently regarding a series of states enacting state statutes intended to restrict or prohibit mandatory arbitration agreements in the employment context. The most recent such endeavor to be highly publicized is California’s A.B. 51, which arguably prohibits employers from making arbitration agreements a condition of offered or continued employment. As […]

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BH
Of Counsel

Deferral By The NLRB To Grievance/Arbitration Procedures

Overruling 2014 precedent, see Babcock & Wilcox Construction, 361 NLRB 1127 (2014), the National Labor Relations Board (Board), last week in UPS, Inc. 369 NLRB No. 1 (Dec. 23, 2019), returned to the standard that applied from 1984 to 2014 for deferral of alleged unlawful discharges and/or disciplinary action against employees to contractual grievance/arbitration procedures. See Spielberg Mfg.Co., 112 […]

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JM
Of Counsel

EEOC Changes Policy on Mandatory Arbitration

This past week, the EEOC withdrew its 1997 policy statement regarding mandatory binding arbitration agreements. In that policy statement, the EEOC took the position that the use of mandatory binding arbitration agreements as a condition of employment were contrary to the fundamental principles of the federal anti-discrimination statutes, including the right to pursue discrimination claims […]

BH
Of Counsel

The Trend to Adopt Mandatory Employment Arbitration Programs

In recent years, many private sector employers have adopted mandatory arbitration programs for employment disputes, which their employees are required to sign as a condition of employment. Main objectives of those programs are the expeditious resolution of employment disputes and the avoidance of protracted and expensive court litigation. Typically, mandatory employment arbitration programs list the […]

| 2 min read | Tagged: , , , ,
JM
Of Counsel

Employers May Prohibit Employees From Opting In To Class Actions

Last year, in Epic Systems Corp v. Lewis, the Supreme Court held that employers act lawfully when they require employees, as a condition of employment, to enter into agreements with the employer waiving their rights to pursue employment claims through class or collective actions and stipulating that any such disputes would be resolved by individualized […]

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JM
Of Counsel

United States Supreme Court Continues Its Trend of Enforcing Individual Employment Arbitration Agreements

Approximately one year ago, the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis, 548 U.S. ___ (2018), holding that class action waivers contained in arbitration agreements, including agreements between employers and their employees, are permissible and enforceable. See here. That decision left open, however, the question of: what if the arbitration […]

BH
Of Counsel

Transportation Workers Get a Green Light to Ignore Arbitration Agreements for Wage Claims

The California Court of Appeal in Nieto v Fresno Beverage Company took the position that a driver who delivered beverages solely within the state of California was nonetheless a “transportation worker” who was exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) provisions that encourage a policy favoring arbitration. The court embraced the reasoning that “intrastate delivery […]

CJ

In Case You Missed It . . .

Happy New Year from Snell & Wilmer’s Labor and Employment Blog! In case you missed them, here are some of the highlights from 2018: Employment Do you have a “100 percent healed” policy? You may reconsider it after reading this. Does your employee handbook need a makeover? Here are tips to help your policies and […]

| 1 min read
RB
Former Associate

Check Your Arbitration Agreements: The Supreme Court Handed Workers A Big Win

In a unanimous opinion, with Justice Ginsburg concurring, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an exemption under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) applies to contracts with independent contractors. The FAA generally requires courts to enforce private arbitration agreements. But the FAA has exemptions, including “contracts of employment of . . . workers engaged in foreign […]

| 1 min read | Tagged: , ,
RB
Former Associate