In Union Pacific RR Co. v. American Railway & Airway Supervisors Assoc., No. 18-50110 (5th Cir. 12/16/2020), the Fifth Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the employer. A railroad employee, Roland Beltran, twice tested positive on a drug test. Aided by the union, he appealed to arbitration. He presented evidence
The battle over whether individual arbitration agreements can prevent class actions was settled with the decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis, 138 S.Ct. 1612 (2018). That decision found that workers who signed individual arbitration agreements with his/her employer could not later file suit as a class or collective action. Employers viewed this decision favorably.
Andrea Tantaros, has sued Fox News for sexual harassment. I wrote about that suit here. Now, Fox News has asked that her case be sent to arbitration with the American Arbitration Association. In effect, it is asking that her case be sent to the secret, Star chamber of American society. But, in so
One of the unintended consequences of arbitration is what to do when arbitration is invoked? Employment arbitrations typically start with an employment lawsuit. The employee often forgets s/he had even signed an arbitration agreement. So, the employee files the lawsuit, not anticipating a claim for arbitration. Then, the employer pulls out the arbitration agreement from
Arbitration in employment cases is still new. It is also private. So, researchers have not had access to arbitration decisions or awards. But, a statute passed in California requires the arbitrators to make public their decisions. One Cornell researcher obtained those public awards and found some remarkable trends. The largest provider of arbitration services is
The right to confront one’s accusers in trial is a fundamental principle of our judicial system. Or, is it? One lawyer learned that confronting one’s accusers is not so fundamental, after all.
Ernesto Martinez, Jr. was accused of double billing. That is, he was accused of billing two different sets of clients for the same
Arbitration is more and more with us, all of us. Every consumer signs some arbitration agreement sometime, somewhere. Arbitration is increasingly found in the work place. Many employers require their employers to sign agreements to submit any dispute to arbitration. SCA Promotions paid a $10 million dollar bonus to Lance Armstrong years ago for winning
The folks at Public Justice have written a bog post about the pernicious use of mandatory arbitration by American Apparel, a major U.S. clothing manufacturer. Based on an article in the New York Times, the post recounts the story of Dov Charney, long-time CEO of American Apparel. Mr. Charney was known for such witticisms
The fundamental principle of USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act) is that a person should not suffer because s/he participates in the National Guard or Reserve duty. I wrote previously about one Reservist, Cpt. Nicole Mitchell, who very likely lost her job as anchor for the Weather Channel due to her Reserve duty. See
I first wrote about this case here. An arbitrator failed to disclose his relationship with the attorney for one of the parties. The arbitrator, Robert Faulkner, a former US Magistrate, had long standing ties with the lawyer for one of the parties, Brett Johnson. The arbitration went well for Mr. Johnson of Fish and