On the other hand, some of the potential concerns associated with mandatory arbitration include: Curiously, national and federal law differs with respect to claims that may be included in the arbitration process. In 2000, the California Supreme Court ruled Armendariz against the Foundation Health Psychcare Services, Inc. In Armendariz, the Court held that discriminatory claims under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) in California may be subject to binding arbitration proceedings. This remains the law in California state courts until today. In early 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corporation (1991) 50 U.S. 20 and found that an appeal under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act could be subject to mandatory arbitration based on an arbitration decision in an employee-signed registration form. Since gilmer`s Supreme Court decision, federal courts have issued several conflicting rulings on the applicability of various arbitration agreements that cause confusion and concern among employers. The main legal argument used to avoid arbitration is an argument that the agreement is “unacceptable,” a legal term used to invalidate an agreement that is not negotiated by the parties and unfair to the worker and several courts. For years, Parliament has supported and encouraged the use of arbitration to resolve disputes. Indeed, the Federal Arbitration Act was passed in 1925 and California followed in 1927 with its first arbitration status.
Since then, California courts and its legislative power have consistently demonstrated a policy that promotes arbitration. This policy has been extended and clarified in recent revisions to the arbitration statute adopted in 1961. Yes, there is some kind of class arbitration. To be clear, that`s not what Inter-State Oil wanted. It wanted a decision that the employee could not maintain a group action and that he had to proceed on an individual basis in the context of an arbitration procedure. Recently, the California Supreme Court dealt with Armendariz v. Foundation Health Psychcare Services Inc. (August 24, 2000) 00 C.D.O.S. 7127. In Armendariz, two staff members filed a complaint of unlawful dismissal, including charges of sexual harassment, discrimination and breach of contract.
The two staff members filled out application forms containing a compromise clause and then entered into a separate work agreement. In general, the agreement required the worker to submit all employment-related rights to binding arbitration proceedings under California`s arbitration status (the clause did not require the employer to settle the claims he had initiated). The agreement also limited workers` remedies to the wages they deserved between the date of dismissal and the date of arbitration. The clause expressly excluded the award of wages, psychological difficulties, punitive damages, rights of re-institution and/or omission. Many employers require workers to sign hours of waiver of legal action for wages and classes of hours as part of the arbitration agreement. This requires an employee to have heard his action on a single basis, and the employee cannot participate in a group effort to take legal action or to mediate.