Arbitration Horror Stories

A Senate Hearing held on 7 October 2009 came down on the right side of two very important issues for American employees – Age Discrimination and Mandatory Binding Arbitration. Specifically, Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and the rest of the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on two Supreme Court decisions made in the past two years.

Regarding age discrimination, Senator Leahy, who chairs the committee, took issue with the Supreme Court’s decision this past June which switches the burden of proof in age discrimination cases from employers to employees.

“The Supreme Court’s recent decisions make it more difficult for victims of employment discrimination to seek relief in court, and more difficult for those victims who get their day in court to vindicate their rights,” Leahy said. “These decisions will encourage corporations to mistreat American workers in a still-recovering economy.”

Senators Leahy and Franken then focused their rath over the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Federal Arbitration Act in Circuit City, Inc. v. Adams.

“Now, after the Circuit City decision, employers are able to unilaterally strip employees of their civil rights by including arbitration clauses in every employment contract they draft,” Leahy said.

Attending the hearing was Jamie Leigh Jones who was drugged, raped and tortured by her coworkers during her time as a contract worker in Iraq. Because of an MBA clause in her employment contract, Jones was forced to take her case in front of an arbitrator instead of a jury of her peers. Senator Franken took up her cause and grilled Mark deBernardo, a partner in a law firm in Virginia who argued the merits of mandatory arbitration. Please click here for video of the hearing.

“She has not had her day in court, sir,” Franken said. “This is the result of your binding, mandatory arbitration, Mr. de Bernardo.”