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
As Mother Jones wrote last year, mandatory arbitration agreements have become increasingly common in recent years and provide significant benefits to employers: In the early 1990s, less than 4 percent of companies surveyed by the Government Accountability Office, an independent government agency, used mandatory arbitration for their employees. Today, more than half of private-sector non-union workers are subject to it, according to a report published last week by the liberal Economic Policy Institute. Forty-one percent of those employees—24.7 million workers—have also waived their right to class-action litigation. Alexander Colvin, an expert on arbitration at Cornell University and the author of the report, expects more companies to add these waivers if the Supreme Court declares them legally enforceable. Companies have a significant incentive to do so. In 2015, Colvin found that employees win 21 percent of arbitration cases, compared to 57 percent of cases in state court. (Employees are far less likely to pursue grievances when they’re subject to arbitration: Colvin estimates that workers are 50 times likelier to sue than to arbitrate.) Workers also get less money when they’re successful: $109,000 in arbitration compared to $575,000 in state court. Colvin says lawyers he speaks with are less likely to represent workers bound by arbitration because they take a share of the damages.
Mother Jones
May 22, 2018
According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than half of American private-sector non-union employees — about 60.1 million workers — are subject to mandatory employment arbitration.
San Francisco Chronicle
May 22, 2018
In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the decision would lead to “underenforcement” of laws that are designed to protect workers. In Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City alone, low-wage workers already lose nearly $3 billion in legally owed wages every year, due to “widespread” violations of minimum-wage and overtime laws, she wrote, citing a study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI). That number could grow if workers are forced to address those violations through arbitration.
The New Food Economy
May 22, 2018
Wage theft – which includes wage and hour violations such as paying below minimum wage, misclassifying employees to avoid overtime pay and illegal deductions – is a widespread and underreported problem. For instance, one 2017 study by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, found that in the 10 most populous states, 2.4 million workers were paid less than the minimum wage, to the tune of an estimated US$15 billion in lost wages per year nationwide. … Gorsuch also has a very rosy view of arbitration as quick, informal and cheap. Yet if arbitration was so effective at dispensing justice, employees would be lining up to take advantage of this forum. They are not. The Economic Policy Institute found that only 1 in 32,000 employees actually files for arbitration.
The Conversation
May 22, 2018
An estimated 25 million American workers are prohibited from suing their employers in class-action lawsuits due to forced arbitration agreements, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute.
Consumer Affairs
May 22, 2018
The use of these waivers has exploded in recent years. The Economic Policy Institute has estimated that mandatory arbitration clauses now cover 60.1 million workers nationwide, and 24.7 million of them include class action waivers.
HR Drive
May 22, 2018