That gives businesses more power over employees. A study by the Economic Policy Institute estimated that 60 million American workers currently have mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts.
Vice News
May 22, 2018
Celine McNicholas, director of labor law and policy at the liberal-leaning nonprofit Economic Policy Institute, said the ruling undermined labor law and workers’ rights. “It is essential to both our democracy and a fair economy that workers have the right to engage in collective action,” McNicholas added. The NLRB argued that the waivers violate federal labor law and let companies evade their responsibilities under workplace statutes. The NLRB in 2012 said for the first time that such waivers were invalid. At the time it had a Democratic majority. About one in four private-sector non-union employees have signed arbitration agreements that include class-action waivers, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Reuters
May 22, 2018
About one in four private-sector non-union employees have signed arbitration agreements that include class-action waivers, according to the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Reuters
May 22, 2018
Unions and allies blasted the decision and urged Congress to amend federal labor law to reverse it. A September report by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that the share of workers subject to mandatory arbitration agreements more than doubled after 2000 and now exceeds 55 percent. “This case is about more than just workers’ ability to get justice in a sexual harassment or discrimination case,” said Celine McNicholas, EPI’s director of labor law and policy. “It’s about workers’ ability to take collective action in a whole host of workplace issues.” More here. Read the opinion here and EPI’s report on mandatory arbitration here.
Politico Pro
May 22, 2018
Arbitration agreements began creeping into U.S. employment contracts in 1991, when the Supreme Court ruled that the practice was legal. Several rulings since then have further chipped away at worker rights; according to the Economic Policy Institute, the share of workers subject to mandatory arbitration provisions has more than doubled since the early aughts. The EPI estimates that about 56 percent of non-union private-sector employees are currently subject to mandatory arbitration agreements, meaning they are barred from suing their employers in public court.
The New Republic
May 22, 2018
In recent years, the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts has risen substantially. In a report published last year, the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, concluded that the percentage of workers in the United States now subject to mandatory arbitration is over 55 percent, up from just 2 percent in 1992. The report also found that, among employers who require mandatory arbitration, over 30 percent also ask employees to waive their right to file and join a class-action lawsuit. Workers who sign contracts with these types of clauses forgo their rights to pursue legal claims over everything from wage theft, to discrimination, to sexual harassment.
Pacific Standard
May 22, 2018
Este tipo de condiciones de arbitraje no eran habituales hace apenas 20 años en las contrataciones pero se han extendido en empresas donde no hay una fuerte presencia sindical. El Economic Policy Institute (EPI) ha calculado que algo más del 56% de los trabajadores del sector privado sin representación sindical han tenido que firmar una cláusula de arbitraje individual para tener empleo. Muchos no son conscientes de ello.
La Opinion
May 22, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a liberal think tank, found in a study last year that 25 million workers are prohibited by arbitration agreements from joining class-action lawsuits. EPI experts say it may only take six years for more than 80 percent of workplaces to adopt mandatory arbitration with class and collective action waivers.
The Hill
May 22, 2018
“A worker who is not paid fairly, discriminated against, or sexually harassed, is forced into a process that overwhelmingly favors the employer – and forced to manage this process alone, even though these issues are rarely confined to one single worker,” complained the liberal Economic Policy Institute in a statement.
The Christian Science Monitor
May 22, 2018
Celine McNicholas, director of labor law and policy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), responded by explaining the real and specific impact the court’s ruling will have on workers: These agreements bar access to the courts for all types of employment-related claims, including those based on the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and the Family Medical Leave Act. This means that a worker who is not paid fairly, discriminated against, or sexually harassed, is forced into a process that overwhelmingly favors the employer—and forced to manage this process alone, even though these issues are rarely confined to one single worker.
Common Dreams
May 22, 2018