More and more of a problem these days from a consumer standpoint are arbitration clauses. You see them in credit card agreements and now, more and more often, in employment contracts.
What does this mean? Well, if you are subjected to discrimination on the job or have any other employment-related grievance you will find the courthouse doors closed to you. Instead you will have to try your case in front of an arbitrator who likely will not be as sympathetic as a jury, and some of your potential damages may be curtailed as well.
But hats off to the great state of New Jersey, since the Assembly Judiciary Committee has advanced a bill that would prohibit employment arbitration clauses – as well as “English-only” workplace policies except in case of business necessity, and it would add protections for pregnant workers, independent contractors, and also include discrimination based on familial status in the state discrimination law.
Pregnant women in NJ, as things stand, are protected by federal law but their state claims must be squeezed into, so to speak, the disability or gender provisions of state law. In contrast, other discrimination plaintiffs, such as those alleging racial bias, are able to directly proceed under either state or federal law – or both.
Proponents of the legislation include the Association of Trial Lawyers of America-NJ and the NJ School Boards Association. Opponents are the NJ Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.
Let’s hope the Garden State passes this legislation and makes itself a trailblazer in the area of employee rights.
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