Congress Considers Limiting Pre-dispute Arbitration Agreements In The Employment Context

Many employers require employees to sign arbitration agreements at the inception of the employment relationship and prior to any disputes, such as part of their new hire packets or as a condition of their employment.  Recently, Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to invalidate such pre-dispute arbitration agreements.

On March 7, 2017, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) introduced The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2017 (S.537) ("Act") into the U.S. Senate.  If enacted, the Act would weaken the effectiveness of arbitration agreements in the employment context.  A House counterpart was also introduced on March 7, 2017 by Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA), and the text is available here.