Articles Tagged with Arbitration

Last week, tech giant Google announced that it will be dropping its forced arbitration requirements, effectively allowing employees to sue Google in court, as well as join a class action lawsuit if they so choose. The news comes after months of effort and activism by a group of Google employees who have been working to effect change within the company since fall 2018. The initial disagreement related to the way Google allegedly handled sexual harassment and abuse controversies and resulted in a worldwide walkout of approximately 20,000 employees.

In response to the recent worldwide protests, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company would agree to the first demand made by the organizers.

The US Supreme Court heard arguments this week in its second session of the 2018–2019 term. The cases argued span a wide range of topics, including arbitration, criminal procedure, federal Indian law, sovereign immunity, and class action settlements.

Though much of the nation's attention is focused on the US Senate's confirmation vote tomorrow on nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court's sitting eight justices heard the first oral arguments of the 2018–2019 term this week.Oyez has posted the aligned audio and transcripts from this week’s oral arguments at the Supreme Court. You can browse summaries of the cases, read transcripts of the arguments, and listen to the audio of the argument on the Oyez website.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5–4 decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis that companies can use arbitration clauses in employment contracts to prevent workers from suing them collectively.