Los Angeles Employee Arbitration Agreements: LEGAL?
We are all familiar with employee contracts which a person signs once the employer accepts someone to work for him, and the other party (potential employee) also accepts the offer to work. In addition, there is often a second agreement signed between the employer and employee known as an arbitration agreement, the purpose of which is to prevent the employee from taking the employer to court.
One weakness of such agreements is that they are confined to a specific jurisdiction which states that the agreement’s terms are only subjected to that area and deemed invalid when that person is relocated to another state or different jurisdiction. Interestingly, there is debate as to the legality of an arbitration agreement at all, especially in California, as some companies have started including the term which does not allow the employee to take action if he is relocated.
This causes obvious problems as different states and even cities can have vastly different employment laws, and to have a contract based on the rules of a location you no longer work in makes little sense. The National Labor Relations Board stated that the employee is no longer obligated to sign such contracts which prevent him from filling a case when the employer relocates him.
The case of Zullo vs Superior Court suggested that Ms Zullo, who worked as an accountant, was caught off-guard, and the agreement wasn’t clear as to the terms of her employer to arbitrate its own disputes, as this term was not included in the policy itself (maybe Zullo’s employer was too busy to include it).
In short, the recent activity in employment law has all but negated the arbitration agreement between employer and employee because they have been found to be far too difficult to uphold. In some cases they have been found to be discriminatory and abusive in such cases where an exiting employee is forced to sign away their rights to sue just to get final pay.
So in a nutshell, to avoid disputes between employer and employees, both parties should sit together and discuss the agreement terms so that they don’t face legal action taken against them, which will save both parties time and money of course. And they will be able to perform their job efficiently together.
If you you have been mistreated or paid improperly and you were forced to sign an arbitration agreement in California, you need to speak to United Employees Law Group right away. Don’t be bullied out of your rights.
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