The most valuable benefit of employee arbitration agreements is their
ability to deter legal action. Arbitration is a binding form of
Alternate Dispute Resolution. Arbitration is usually quicker, involves
less discovery, is more confidential, and usually results in less
attorney’s fees. The Arbitrator is often more conservative and
knowledgeable than a jury. A jury often tends to be more passionate,
unpredictable and they have the ability to award punitive damages.
Also, the ruling by the Arbitrator can only be appealed if clear
evidence can be shown that the Arbitrator showed manifest disregard of
the law, corruption or fraud on the part of the Arbitrator, or the
Arbitrator exceeded his/her power or authority.
An
Arbitration agreement can be installed at any time and instantly
becomes a condition of employment. However, please be aware that you
may encounter some resistance from your employees. If resistance does
occur, you have to be willing to terminate any employee that refuses to
sign the agreement. Once the agreement has been handed out to the
employees, give them a day or two to look over the agreement, sign and
return. Once the deadline has passed, any employee that has not
returned their signed form should be asked to leave until they do so.
New employees should be given the form with their initial paperwork.
Your
attorney would be the best person to draft an Arbitration Agreement for
your company; however, ELM will be glad to help in any way we can.
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