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
As previously discussed, courts continue to disagree over the enforceability of mandatory arbitration provisions containing class action waivers set forth in benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security...more
A federal district court judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky has enforced an ESOP’s arbitration clause, sending P.L. Marketing Inc. employees’ breach of fiduciary duty claims on behalf of a putative class to individual...more
In the October Monthly Minute, we highlight a 6th Circuit decision that puts a spotlight on the adequacy of claim procedures and related judicial standards of review, and review the Supreme Court’s unwillingness to enter the...more
The Third Circuit refused to enforce a mandatory arbitration clause with a class action waiver in an ESOP, finding that the class action waiver deprived participants of statutory rights. The ESOP plan added the clause at...more
On February 9, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit refused to enforce an arbitration clause contained in an employee stock ownership plan (“ESOP”) document. In a 41-page opinion, the Court held that the ESOP...more
While case law regarding the enforceability of arbitration provisions in ERISA retirement plans has been mixed, since the Ninth Circuit’s 2019 decision in Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp. enforcing a 401(k) plan’s arbitration...more
Historically, courts around the country have approached the enforceability of class action waivers and arbitration provisions in ESOP and Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) plan documents differently,...more
In Hawkins, et al. v. Cintas Corp., No. 21-3156, __ F.4d __ (2022), plaintiffs brought a class action pursuant to Section 502(a)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), alleging that their former employer...more
Courts around the country continue to approach the enforceability of class-action waivers and arbitration provisions in ERISA plan documents differently. This alert discusses recent decisions addressing these issues in ERISA...more
On February 10, 2022, the US Senate passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (the Act), a bipartisan bill that invalidates and renders unenforceable predispute arbitration...more
A federal district court in Florida sent a proposed ERISA breach of fiduciary duty class action to individual arbitration on the basis of a plan arbitration clause that allowed for individual relief and plan-wide injunctive...more
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
Over the past few years, qualified retirement plans, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) have been adding provisions requiring participant breach of fiduciary duty claims to be resolved through mandatory...more
Under ERISA, withdrawal liability disputes are subject to mandatory arbitration. The parties are tasked with mutually selecting the arbitrator, but if they reach an impasse in the selection process, a federal district court...more
As we shifted focus last week from a plan’s administrative claims procedures to defending against a claim for benefits in court, we explained how a well-documented administrative record can enhance the chances of getting a...more
As certain long-standing issues of interest to financial services employers seem to be receiving a degree of reactive attention, other cutting-edge issues continue to force such employers to revisit and update policies to...more
The Ninth Circuit signaled that it might rehear Dorman v. The Charles Schwab Corp., where earlier this year it held that a mandatory arbitration provision required arbitration of an ERISA fiduciary-breach claim....more
Thirty-five years after deciding that arbitration clauses in employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) were unenforceable, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit...more
In Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held on August 20, 2019 that claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) can generally be subject to mandatory...more
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit recently decided that Charles Schwab Corp. can require a proposed class action to arbitrate its claim that Schwab breached its fiduciary duties by including Schwab-affiliated...more
• Some retirement plans, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), have in the past few years included terms and provisions that require participant breach of fiduciary claims to be resolved in arbitration on a...more
In Munro v. University of Southern California, No. 17-55550, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 20522 (9th Cir. July 24, 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that employees alleging an ERISA breach of fiduciary duty...more
On July 24, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Munro v. University of Southern California, No. 17-55550, that an employer/fiduciary of a 401(k) plan cannot force a fiduciary breach claim under Employee...more
Synopsis: Supreme Court has agreed to decide the fate of class waiver provisions in mandatory arbitration agreements, which may spark a new trend in ERISA benefits litigation. On January 13, 2017, the United States...more
The 2016 Presidential election was arguably the most contentious, unpredictable, and politically polarizing race in this nation's history. The contours of the electoral map changed by the hour in the days leading up to...more