News & Analysis as of

Federal Arbitration Act Employment Contract Preemption

The Federal Arbitration Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1925 that governs arbitration in contracts implicating interstate commerce. The Act applies in both federal and state courts. 
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Choice-of-Law Provisions Cannot Circumvent Ending Forced Arbitration Act, Court of Appeal Rules

On February 3, 2025, the California First District Court of Appeal held that a party to an arbitration agreement cannot rely on a choice-of-law provision to wire around the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault...more

CDF Labor Law LLP

Importance of FAA in California Employment Arbitration Agreements Underscored

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Employers may be able to breathe a sigh of relief as a California Court of Appeal concluded that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempts state law that allowed employees to wriggle out of arbitration and win thousands of...more

BakerHostetler

At Long Last, California District Court Permanently Enjoins Enforcement of AB 51

BakerHostetler on

There are times when one would rather not be proven right. Nearly four years ago, a California district court invalidated AB 51, which sought to prohibit mandatory arbitration by, among other things, calling for criminal...more

Venable LLP

Ninth Circuit Puts Mandatory Employment Arbitration Agreements Back on the Menu

Venable LLP on

Once again, the California legislature's attempt to kneecap arbitration agreements in the employment arena has been swept aside by a federal court. As of February 15, 2023, California employers may continue to require...more

Polsinelli

Mandatory Arbitration Agreements Remain Valid in California

Polsinelli on

California employers received welcome reassurance last week that they are free to require employees enter into arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. This is the result of an opinion from the Ninth Circuit last...more

Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth

All For Naught: California Employers Can Continue To Require Workers to Sign Arbitration Agreements

After more than three years of legal challenges, California’s Assembly Bill 51 was completely struck down as preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act in a Ninth Circuit ruling on February 15, 2023. California employers can...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Ninth Circuit Holds That California AB 51 Is Preempted by the FAA

McDermott Will & Emery on

As of February 15, 2023, employers in California may once again require mandatory arbitration as the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51), a...more

Payne & Fears

Employers May Require Arbitration Agreements as Condition of Employment, Federal Appeals Court Holds

Payne & Fears on

After more than three years of litigation, the Ninth Circuit has held that AB 51, California’s attempt to ban mandatory employment arbitration agreements, is unenforceable....more

McGuireWoods LLP

Ninth Circuit Holds Federal Arbitration Act Preempts California Law Prohibiting “Forced Arbitration”

McGuireWoods LLP on

On Feb. 15, 2023, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s ruling that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts California Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51), which made it a criminal offense for an...more

Littler

Ninth Circuit Allows Enforcement of Employment Arbitration Agreements in California

Littler on

In a significant win for California employers, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta,1 affirmed a district court injunction striking down California Assembly Bill 51 (“AB 51”) as preempted by the...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Ninth Circuit Blocks California’s Ban on Mandatory Arbitration in Employment

On February 15, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a 2020 California law that attempted to prohibit employers from requiring employees and job applicants to agree to arbitration as a condition of employment. The...more

Fisher Phillips

Federal Appeals Court Blocks California’s Ban on Mandatory Arbitration Agreements: 7 Key Takeaways for Employers

Fisher Phillips on

A federal appeals court just paved the way for California employers to continue utilizing mandatory arbitration agreements with employees and job applicants. You may be familiar with the litigation roller coaster of...more

Genova Burns LLC

Timing is Everything: NJ Appellate Division Compels Arbitration of Employee’s Sex Harassment Claims

Genova Burns LLC on

On October 26, 2022, the New Jersey Appellate Division in Rourke v. Herr Foods, Inc. once again confirmed that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts the 2019 amendment to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD)...more

CDF Labor Law LLP

CA Court of Appeal Upholds Arbitration Agreement Under FAA Preemption

CDF Labor Law LLP on

Evenskaas v. California Transit Inc. reversed a Los Angeles Superior Court judge’s denial of an employer’s motion to compel arbitration of a former employee’s wage and hour class action. The trial court had concluded that the...more

Hogan Lovells

NJ appellate court affirms: FAA preempts NJLAD prohibition on arbitration agreements

Hogan Lovells on

In 2019, New Jersey amended its Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) to include a provision purporting to ban agreements requiring employees to arbitrate claims arising under the NJLAD (Amendment). On February 15, 2022, a New...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Mandatory Arbitration Agreements in California: Down, But Possibly Not Out

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP on

Businesses and attorneys alike have kept a close eye on the developments surrounding the challenge to California Assembly Bill 51 (now codified as Labor Code section 432.6). Most recently, in a 2-1 decision, the 9th Circuit...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Asks Ninth Circuit to Reconsider Ruling Upholding California’s Mandatory Employment Arbitration Ban

The battle concerning California’s Assembly Bill (AB) No. 51 - the law seeking effectively to ban mandatory employment arbitration in California - continues to rage. On October 20, 2021, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the...more

Polsinelli

Ninth Circuit Decision Creates Uncertainty for California Employers Using Mandatory Arbitration Agreements

Polsinelli on

On September 15, 2021, the Ninth Circuit, in a 2-1 split decision, partially upheld a California law passed in 2019 governing the use of mandatory arbitration agreements by employers in California.  The state law, AB 51...more

BCLP

Ninth Circuit Upholds California’s Ban on Mandatory Arbitration of Employment Disputes

BCLP on

On October 10, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law California Assembly Bill 51 (“AB 51”), with an effective date of January 1, 2020. AB 51 prohibits an employer, as a condition of employment, from requiring an...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Mandatory Arbitration Agreements are Unenforceable in California, Again

In a year of tough decisions for California employers, the Ninth Circuit just issued another mixed bag of legal decisions to navigate, this time regarding the enforceability of mandatory arbitration agreements. CA Labor...more

Stokes Wagner

California Law Limiting Mandatory Arbitration Agreements is Mostly Upheld by the Ninth Circuit

Stokes Wagner on

On September 15, 2021, the Ninth Circuit lifted an injunction and mostly upheld a California law, known as Assembly Bill 51 (“AB-51”), that prohibits mandatory arbitration agreements. AB-51 invalidates mandatory arbitration...more

Payne & Fears

Ninth Circuit Vacates Preliminary Injunction Against Enforcement of Mandatory Employment Arbitration Agreement Ban

Payne & Fears on

This morning, in its decision in Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta, No. 20-15291, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a January 2020 preliminary injunction against enforcement of AB 51, a 2019 California law effectively...more

Fisher Phillips

The Arbitration Whipsaw Continues – Court Reinstates Portions of California Prohibition of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements

Fisher Phillips on

- The Ninth Circuit rules that portions of Assembly Bill 51 are not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and lifts a lower court’s injunction that barred the law from taking effect. - The court did rule that...more

Littler

Federal Court Applies FAA Preemption in Refusing to Enforce New Jersey’s Ban on Mandatory Arbitration of Discrimination,...

Littler on

As employers and employees alike continue to monitor and watch the landscape of alternative dispute resolution as a viable option (or not) in New Jersey, an important federal court decision was recently handed down. ...more

Carlton Fields

NJ Supreme Court Finds State Arbitration Law Applies to FAA-Exempt Workers

Carlton Fields on

The New Jersey Supreme Court issued a combined opinion in two cases arising from arbitration agreements in employment contracts. The plaintiffs in the respective cases claimed they fell within section 1 of the Federal...more

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