Arbitration clauses in contracts between both consumers and companies and employers and employees, once almost unheard of, have multiplied over the past several decades. According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, last year more than 50 percent of private-sector, non-union employers demanded that would-be employees agree to arbitration in the event of a dispute. Just shy of a third also insisted that their workers agree to surrender the right to join a class-action lawsuit.
The Washington Post
May 22, 2018
According to a September survey by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, mandatory arbitration clauses of one kind or another have been imposed on more than half of all U.S. workers. About one-third of all businesses that impose mandatory arbitration clauses specifically forbid class-action lawsuits, the survey found.
Politico
May 22, 2018
Right now, about 60 million workers have already signed away their right to go to court by agreeing to arbitrate disputes with their employers, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis released last year. About 30 percent of those workers have also signed the kind of class-action waivers that were at issue in this decision.
The Huffington Post
May 22, 2018
About 60 million nonunionized workers in the private sector are covered by arbitration agreements that bar them from going to court to sue over alleged violations of federal workplace laws, according to a survey by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal group based in Washington. Among them, about 25 million are also required to arbitrate as individuals. Lawyers predicted Monday that number will rise quickly.
Los Angeles Times
May 22, 2018
According to a report last year from the Economic Policy Institute, an estimated 25 million workers ― just under one-quarter of non-union employees in the private sector ― give up their right to join class-action lawsuits as a condition of employment. The report anticipated that waivers would become an “even more widespread practice” in the event the Supreme Court sanctioned them. Class-action lawsuits are often the most powerful way for employees to secure back pay when their minimum wage or overtime rights have been violated or to secure damages when their bosses run afoul of discrimination laws.
The Huffington Post
May 22, 2018
The court’s ruling will have wide-ranging effects for employees. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 24.7 million American workers — 23.1% of all private-sector nonunion employees — have employment contracts that contain the class-action waivers at the heart of Monday’s decision. More broadly, mandatory arbitration procedures that require individual arbitration instead of legal proceedings for workplace disputes affect 60.1 million American workers. … The “inevitable result” of Monday’s ruling, Ginsburg noted in her dissent, is likely to be “the under enforcement of federal and state statutes designed to advance the well-being of vulnerable workers,” such as minimum wage and overtime violations. Mandatory individual arbitration is likely to deter workers from fighting their disputes, Ginsburg explained, as the cost of individual proceedings often outweigh the potential reward and workers may fear retaliation if they make their claims alone. The Economic Policy Institute also noted that only 21.4% of mandatory arbitration cases brought by employees are successful, as compared with 36.4% of federal court cases and 57% of state court cases.
Mic
May 22, 2018
The ruling — written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated to the bench by President Trump in 2017 — immediately affects an estimated 25 million contracts, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Labor lawyers say it will embolden employers to add such provisions to contracts going forward, knowing the courts will support them.
Buzzfeed
May 22, 2018
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