When Linda Guyden sought to enforce the whistleblower protections found in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act against her former employer, Aetna drove her claim into secret arbitration proceedings. Academi sought to force the claim into arbitration under the terms of its independent contractor agreement, but a federal district court judge held that the arbitration clause was unconscionable. After being fired, the men filed suit under the False Claims Act, alleging that the company terminated them in retaliation for reporting that Academi was inserting false numbers into firearms re-certification records submitted to State Department officials.

Robert Winston and Allan Wheeler worked as firearms instructors for Academi in Afghanistan, as part of a contract the company held with the U.S. Burton into arbitration, despite the fact that the company stated earlier in the case that it would not seek to enforce the arbitration clause he was required to sign when he joined the company. In November 2010, 24 Hour Fitness sought to force Mr.

Burton filed a lawsuit against 24 Hour Fitness in December 2007, alleging that the company failed to pay him wages he was owed under the California Labor Code. Want to help expose other employers who force their workers to surrender their rights? Please fill out our short form to report on companies that force arbitration on their employees. “Workers Beware” is intended to provide information about employers that impose forced arbitration on their employees for the benefit of advocates, researchers, policymakers, and-most of all-workers. The exact number of workers who are affected by forced arbitration is impossible to determine because forced arbitration proceedings occur in secret, are not a matter of public record, and frequently do not permit appeals. The FAA was never supposed to apply to the employment relationship, where workers do not have equal bargaining power with their employers. Supreme Court decisions that have expanded the reach of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in ways not intended by Congress when it passed the FAA in 1925. The prevalence of forced arbitration of workplace claims is a result of U.S. Forced arbitration denies America’s workers access to our nation’s civil justice system by requiring them to give up their rights to resolve their claims in court and shields employers from public accountability for violating workers’ employment and civil rights.

Menards Policy And Procedure Handbook