For more than a decade, an increasing number of workers are finding that they have “agreed” to have all of their workplace disputes handled through arbitration proceedings.
Note: This “agreement” is often little more than a clause in small print in pages of paperwork that you sign with no discussion or even chance to review.
The problem is that this forced arbitration of a dispute is a one-time, private resolution. While the arbitrator is, in theory, a neutral decision-maker, the fact that the business will be returning and returning and returning in subsequent proceedings means that the arbitrator’s future in deciding these cases very much depends on how the business “perceives” of the arbitrator’s responsiveness to the business’s concerns. A business who thinks that the arbitrator was unfair to the business in some way will not select that arbitrator for any future disputes. So, arbitrators have a financial incentive to keep their business customers “happy” in these proceedings. But, the employees in these proceedings will never know this history and this basic bias in favor of businesses (and is why public courts are vital to actual resolution of these cases).
To give everyday folks an outline of some of the problems created by forced arbitration, NELP has released a short but thorough FAQ on the issues and problems raised by forced arbitration.
One thing to keep in mind is that workplace rights against discrimination (and housing rights against discrimination) as well as rights to basic wages and overtime pay can still be enforced through complaints with administrative agencies against a business even if there is a forced arbitration agreement.
In Wisconsin in general, go to the Equal Rights Division of DWD. Residents of Madison can go to the state’s Equal Rights Division or the Civil Rights Department for the City of Madison for businesses and apartments within the City of Madison.