Consumer Law

The "Snowballing Futility" of Arbitration for Employees

By Greg Beck

Here's some more recent news on arbitration. A study by Professor Michael LeRoy of the University of Illinois shows that, while employers are frequently successful in getting arbitration awards overturned in state court, employees are not.

LeRoy examines a "snowballing futility for employees" who are forced into arbitration. If they manage to win, despite the built-in institutional bias, the employer can take it to state court and get the award overturned, forcing the employee to start over from scratch. On the other hand, if they lose, the courts are highly unlikely to disturb the decision.

From the study:

Remarkably, state appellate courts confirmed only 56.4 percent of employee wins in arbitration. But when the same courts ruled on employer victories, they confirmed 86.7 percent of awards.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on April 25, 2008 (boomark / email).