California Employment News: The State of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements in California Employment
Podcast: California Employment News - The State of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements in California Employment
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Arbitration Clauses in Employee Contracts and Beyond
It is generally understood, or at least it has been in the past, that plaintiffs prefer to avoid the application of the Federal Arbitration Act (the “FAA”) and instead present their cases to juries. As such, plaintiffs have...more
Arbitration agreements are useful tools for California employers, but they are replete with potential dangers. An employer contemplating using arbitration in the workplace must evaluate whether it should be mandatory, the...more
In Munoz, v. Earthgrains Distribution, LLC, 2023 WL 5986129 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 13, 2023), the plaintiffs, members of a class of independent distributors of baked goods for Earthgrains and other bakeries, alleged that they were...more
California’s attempt to limit mandatory arbitration agreements as a condition of employment has been held to violate Federal law, according to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals....more
The Ninth Circuit gave California employers a belated Valentine’s Day present by upholding the District Court’s injunction against enforcement of California Assembly Bill 51 (“AB 51”) because it inhibited arbitration contrary...more
The panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that largely upheld California’s law banning mandatory arbitration agreements in the employment context just withdrew its decision. On August 22, 2022, two of the three...more
The Supreme Court has recently taken the challenge of assessing the scope and breadth of workplace arbitration provisions under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, and Southwest...more
Businesses and attorneys alike have kept a close eye on the developments surrounding the challenge to California Assembly Bill 51 (now codified as Labor Code section 432.6). Most recently, in a 2-1 decision, the 9th Circuit...more
In the spirit of the season, we are using our annual "12 days of the holidays" blog series to address new California laws and their impact on California employers. On this second day of the holidays, my labor and employment...more
Last month, a split Ninth Circuit panel ruled that certain portions of California’s Assembly Bill 51 (2019) were not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and held that employers are prohibited from requiring...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The legal battles over Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51)—which attempts to prohibit mandatory employment arbitration agreements - continue. The Ninth Circuit heard the much anticipated oral arguments earlier this...more
The New Jersey Supreme Court issued a combined opinion in two cases arising from arbitration agreements in employment contracts. The plaintiffs in the respective cases claimed they fell within section 1 of the Federal...more
A New York State Trial Court judge recently ruled that an agreement between a company and an employee to arbitrate sexual harassment claims was unenforceable due to 2018 amendments to New York State’s Human Rights Law, which...more
- On July 13, 2020, the New York Supreme Court in Andowah Newton v. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc., Sup. Ct., N.Y. County, July 13, 2020, J. Nock, Index No. 154178/2019, slip op at p. 16, allowed the plaintiff employee...more
The Chamber of Commerce and employer organizations convinced a federal court judge in California to halt enforcement of Assembly Bill 51, which was set to take effect January 1, 2020, and invalidate all agreements requiring...more
Last year, jurisdictions across the nation issued new laws and regulations further complicating compliance issues for employers, particularly for multi-state employers. Some of the most significant developments related to new...more
A federal district court found that the new California law barring mandatory employment arbitration agreements is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The court granted the challengers’ motion for preliminary...more
This edition of Employment Flash looks at recent NLRB activity, including its decision (overruling an Obama-era decision) regarding confidentiality rules for employees during ongoing workplace investigations. We also discuss...more
On January 31, 2020, Chief United States District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller enjoined California from enforcing AB 51. This new legislation prohibits employers from requiring their employees to sign arbitration agreements....more
The #MeToo Movement, now in its third year, continued its evolution from grassroots activism to legislative change in 2019, with new laws addressing discrimination and harassment emerging from state governments and resulting...more
California AB 51’s ban on mandatory employment arbitration remains stayed for now. AB 51 was passed in fall 2019 and essentially prohibits employers from requiring an applicant or employee to consent to mandatory arbitration...more
On January 10, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California heard oral arguments on whether the court should enter a preliminary injunction preventing the State of California (State) from enforcing AB...more
The close of the decade ended with a flurry of activity on the labor and employment front, creating a number of significant new obligations for employers. As 2020 opens, it is important to ensure that employers of all sizes...more