On October 13, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 51—a bill which essentially makes it unlawful for a California employer to require job applicants or employees to sign an arbitration agreement as a condition of employment. Currently, the use of mandatory arbitration agreements and class action waivers is extremely common among California employers, and recent U.S. […]
On August 29, 2019, the California Supreme Court ruled that an arbitration agreement signed by a mechanic at an Oakland Toyota dealership was unenforceable under the general contract principle of unconscionability. The decision came after plaintiff Ken Kho had prevailed on a claim for unpaid wages through a California Labor Commissioner complaint process commonly known as a “Berman” hearing. OTO, […]
Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit – the federal appellate court for many western states, including California and Nevada – held that mandatory employment arbitration agreements containing a waiver of employees’ substantive right to pursue class action cases or other concerted, work-related legal claims violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). In other words, employers […]
Unconscionable Provisions Can Make an Agreement Unenforceable The California Court of Appeal recently found an arbitration agreement unenforceable due to multiple unfair provisions in the agreement. The February 26, 2016 decision in Carbajal v. CWPSC, Inc. (2016) — Cal.Rptr.3d —- (2016 WL 757552) is a reminder that the substance of an arbitration agreement will be scrutinized by the courts and […]
