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Employment Contracts

Arbitration agreements only work if signed in advance

05/24/2018
Don’t have an arbitration agreement in place? Don’t expect to implement one after an employee has filed a class-action lawsuit.

Big win for employers: Supreme Court rules arbitration agreements can prohibit class-action suits

05/21/2018
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the right of employers to require terms that include barring employees from filing class-action lawsuits.

Always engage qualified attorney to draw up employment contracts

05/07/2018
Here’s a reminder that drafting employment contracts is best left to the legal experts.

Go ahead: Seek pacts for both arbitration, litigation

04/30/2018
Do you want to push employment disputes into arbitration, but prefer to have a state or federal court hear any trade secret-disputes? Keep those agreements separate.

Prepare to show applicant understood terms of initial arbitration agreement

04/30/2018
Do you routinely include an arbitration agreement in your employment applications? It’s a good idea to keep copies of both, in case the employee later claims she didn’t understand what she was signing because of language barriers.

Challenge based on arbitrator’s bias fails

04/16/2018
A federal court has concluded it doesn’t have the right to disqualify an arbitrator from hearing a case before a decision has been made. It’s another indication that courts aren’t eager to micromanage arbitrations.

Do your employees know what’s in arbitration pacts?

03/22/2018
Do you use an arbitration agreement to limit exposure to expensive and time-consuming employment litigation? If so, be aware that how you present that agreement to the employee and the employee’s language fluency may affect the viability of the contract.

Courts will toss unfair arbitration agreements

02/21/2018

Courts are particularly unlikely to consider an arbitration agreement binding if it appears the employee did not understand what he was signing.

Contract can limit where lawsuit is filed

02/07/2018

Employers with employees who work from home or far from the main office sometimes find themselves facing litigation in a state far from the main office. Making clear up front that lawsuits can’t be filed elsewhere may help.

Make arbitration agreements separate documents, not part of your handbook

01/31/2018
If, like many employers, you have neglected updating your employee handbook, now is a good time to do so. That’s particularly true for Texas employers that use arbitration agreements to keep employment law disputes out of court.