Process
Forced Arbitration, and What California Employees Can Still Do
An arbitration agreement moves your case to a private forum. It does not erase your claims, cap your damages, or block an agency complaint. Sexual harassment and assault claims can now skip arbitration entirely, and agreements that fail California’s Fairness Minimums fail altogether.
What Arbitration Actually Means for Your Case
A private arbitrator decides instead of a jury. Appeal rights are narrow. In some postures it moves faster than a court calendar.
Employers push arbitration for a reason, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. Cases still settle there, and cases still win there. What changes is the forum, the audience, and some of the leverage.
The Sexual Harassment Exit, and How the EFAA Works
The federal Ending Forced Arbitration Act lets an employee with a sexual harassment or sexual assault claim void the arbitration clause and choose court. The election belongs to you, not your employer, and it applies to pre dispute agreements signed before the law passed.
There is a live question about whether the entire case leaves arbitration along with the harassment claim, or only that claim. Courts have not landed in one place.
See harassment claims and what drives harassment case value.
California’s Fairness Minimums
California courts will not enforce an arbitration agreement that strips the protections a court would give you. In plain English, the agreement has to provide:
- A neutral arbitrator
- More than minimal discovery
- A written decision
- Every remedy a court could have awarded
- The employer paying the costs unique to arbitration
An agreement that misses these can be unenforceable as unconscionable, which puts you back in front of a jury.
The Fee Deadline Employers Keep Tripping Over
Under Code of Civil Procedure sections 1281.97 and 1281.98, an employer that compelled you into arbitration has 30 days from the invoice date to pay the arbitration fees. Pay late and it waives the right to arbitrate. Your case can go back to court.
This is a procedural escape hatch most readers will not find on a competitor page, and it comes up more often than you would expect. Appellate activity in this area continues.
What Arbitration Cannot Touch
- An administrative complaint to the Civil Rights Department, the state agency that handles discrimination complaints, or the Labor Commissioner
- The representative dimension of a PAGA claim, after the recent reform decisions.
- Your unemployment claim
You found the clause. Now what?
Do not assume it holds. Bring it to a consultation for three things: an enforceability review against the fairness minimums, an EFAA eligibility check if harassment is part of your facts, and a look at the fee deadline posture if arbitration has already started.
The clause is a document to attack, not a verdict on your case.
Questions About Arbitration Agreements
I do not remember signing anything.
Your employer carries the burden of proving an agreement exists. Onboarding click throughs and bulk electronic signatures get litigated, and employers do not always win that fight.
Can I Be Fired for Refusing to Sign One?
The answer turns on where AB 51 currently stands after the Ninth Circuit ruled on it.
Do Arbitration Cases Pay Less?
Published research suggests amounts trend lower in arbitration than in court. That is study data rather than a prediction about your case, and it is another reason the enforceability review comes first.
Does Arbitration Change My Filing Deadline?
Your underlying claims still run on statutory clocks. Check the deadline table.
Employment Law Resources
- Ending Forced Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. 401 and 402: uscode.house.gov
- Code of Civil Procedure 1281.97 and 1281.98, arbitration fee deadline and waiver: leginfo
- California LWDA, PAGA and representative claims: labor.ca.gov
Tell Us What Happened
One business day for a response. You pay nothing unless we win.