Law Commons^™

Employee Voice In Arbitration, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis allows employers to force employees to agree to individual arbitration of any claims against the employer, removing their ability to bring class and collective actions. These unilaterally imposed arbitration agreements deprive employees of any voice in this important term of employment.

If arbitration is to serve its intended function of a mutually agreeable forum to resolve disputes, Congress should require employers who desire to use arbitration to negotiate the terms of the agreement with a representative of their affected employees. Such a requirement would reduce some of the adverse effects …

Boilerplate’S False Dichotomy, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

The argument against enforcing boilerplate contracts (contracts that no one reads) seems clear. Indeed, if this were a court case we would say that the jury is in; the evidence against boilerplate is overwhelming. Yet the judge has yet to render judgment. Courts continue to enforce boilerplate terms, and even those scholars who have exposed boilerplate as an emperor with no clothes are reluctant to gaze upon its nakedness and condemn its use.

This reluctance originates in an assumption that pervades the boilerplate debate—namely, that courts and commentators alike view boilerplate as necessary to the modern transaction. When asked to …

The Parity Principle, Luke P. Norris

Law Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court has interpreted the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 (FAA) in a broad way that has allowed firms to widely privatize disputes with workers and consumers. The resulting expansive growth of American arbitration law has left commentators both concerned about the structural inequalities that permeate the regime and in search of an effective limiting principle. This Article develops such a limiting principle from the text and history of the FAA itself. The Article reinterprets the text and history of section 1 of the statute, which, correctly read, excludes individual employee-employer disputes from the statute’s coverage. The Article argues …

Union Representation In Employment Arbitration, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

Employers in recent years have promulgated arbitration programs to resolve disputes with their present and former employees. Arbitration may in many cases provide a lower-cost forum than litigation for resolving such disputes. But the problem of representation of Americans of modest incomes still remains. Ann Hodges explores in this chapter whether labor unions can help address that representation gap.

Can Compulsory Arbitration Be Reconciled With Section 7 Rights?, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

Employers are increasingly imposing arbitration agreements on their employees as a condition of employment. These agreements force the employees to arbitrate, rather than litigate, any legal claims arising out of their employment. For employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act, such agreements may impair their rights to engage in concerted activity, since litigation of employment claims is protected by Section 7. Employee rights to file class actions, consolidate claims, and seek broad injunctive relief are concerted actions that are particularly threatened by the move to compelled arbitration. The Article analyzes the impact of arbitration agreements on various forms of …

Arbitration Of Statutory Claims In The Unionized Workplace: Is Bargaining With The Union Required?, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the question of whether arbitration of statutory claims should be classified as a mandatory or permissive subject of bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). First, this article reviews the post-Wright cases that hold that a union-negotiated waiver is permissible. Second, this article reviews the only decision to consider the issue of classification of the bargaining subject, Air Line Pilots Ass'n, International v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., a case arising in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia under the Railway Labor Act. In that case, the court concluded that the …

Protecting Unionized Employees Against Discrimination: The Fourth Circuit's Misinterpretation Of Supreme Court Precedent, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This article will first review the Supreme Court's arbitration jurisprudence, concentrating on labor and employment law cases. Next, the article will analyze the cases involving arbitration under collective bargaining agreements decided by the courts of appeals subsequent to Gilmer. The article will then evaluate the two different approaches of the circuit courts in light of the law relating to collective bargaining and union representation. Finally, the article will review alternative methods of protecting employee rights to determine whether unions can preserve employees' statutory rights under the rule of the Fourth Circuit. The article concludes that the Supreme Court should …