May 2, 2022
More than 60 million Americans in the nonunion private sector workforce have been shut out of the court system by companies that force them to arbitrate in the event of a dispute, according to a 2019 study by Professor Alexander J.S. Colvin of the ILR School at Cornell University. But given the costs, many of those same workers are shut out of arbitration, too. Employment lawyers are often reluctant to take arbitration cases at all because the hours required don’t always justify the potential reward, particularly when low wage workers are seeking justice.
Joseph M. Sellers, co-chair of our Civil Rights & Employment practice, was quoted by Capital & Main in an article examining the impact of forced arbitration on the U.S. workforce. Currently, more than 60 million Americans are subject to forced arbitration, preventing them from using the court system to resolve work-related disputes.
“Low-wage workers have the least bargaining power. Whatever the employer insists on, they are going to agree to.”
Read How Forced Arbitration Is Making It Harder for Low-Wage Workers to Seek Justice.