Employment Law: Arbitration Agreements

Arbitration of an employment case versus a union grievance comes up in a context where you don’t have a union; you don’t have a collective bargaining agreement but you have signed either through an individual contract or otherwise with your employer an agreement or a document that says that you are going to arbitrate any differences that you have with your employer in whatever context they arise.

For example if you think you’ve been discriminated against you think your employer fired you because of your race or your age or your gender, you have an arbitration agreement with that employer, you’re probably going to be required to arbitrate that agreement privately instead of filing a lawsuit in Superior Court.

If you are a member of a union and you have a collective bargaining agreement the union’s job is to enforce that contract and one of the ways that is accomplished is through arbitration.  A union arbitration is not necessarily going to preclude you from filing a lawsuit that you could otherwise file in state or Federal court.