Thursday, July 1, 2010

Read Employment Agreements

You may be agreeing to more than you want when you take a job, when you overlook employment application fine print,

For example, many companies include a mandatory arbitration clause. That means you agree to give up your right to take disputes to court, even when the employer has broken the law.

When the case goes to an arbitrator, the grounds for appeal are limited. The National Employment Lawyers Association estimates that more than 30 million Americans are bound by arbitration clauses at work.

Employers in financial services, health care and pharmaceuticals usually favor arbitration because it keeps costs down. It also prevents cases from being out in the media.

A recent study found that arbitrators decided in favor of employees about 30% of the time, and when the individual arbitrator had worked previously on a case with the employer, the employee won only 12% of the time. Employees can often fare better in court because jurors are more easily swayed.

I am not saying arbitrators are prejudiced. They may be wiser than jurors. But employees do not always have the better case

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