Governor Brown just signed AB 802. This law applies to new arbitrations administered after 1/1/2015.
I'm going to call this law the "Slow Death to Arbitration Act." Catchy? The
One of the benefits of arbitration is that it's private. Not anymore. The major arbitration services, such as JAMS, AAA, etc. must publish at least quarterly a report and post it on its website. The information will list the good and the bad, will give anyone who looks a free directory of plaintiff attorneys who have sued your companies, and more. How about the number of mediations you've been involved in?
I'm highlighting in bold what employers should be most concerned about.
(1) Whether arbitration was demanded pursuant to a pre-dispute arbitration clause and, if so, whether the pre-dispute arbitration clause designated the administering private arbitration company.
(2) The name of the nonconsumer party, if the non consumer party is a corporation or other business entity, and whether the nonconsumer party was the initiating party or the responding party,
if known.
(3) The nature of the dispute involved as one of the following: goods; credit; other banking or finance; insurance; health care; construction; real estate; telecommunications, including software and Internet usage; debt collection; personal injury; employment; or other. If the dispute involved employment, the amount of the employee’s annual wage divided into the following ranges: less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), inclusive, and over two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000). If the employee chooses not to provide wage information, it may be noted.
(4) Whether the consumer or nonconsumer party was the prevailing party. As used in this section, “prevailing party” includes the party with a net monetary recovery or an award of injunctive relief.
(5) The total number of occasions, if any, the non consumer party has previously been a party in an arbitration administered by the private arbitration company.
(6) The total number of occasions, if any, the non consumer party has previously been a party in a mediation administered by the private arbitration company.
(7) Whether the consumer party was represented by an attorney and, if so, the name of the attorney and the full name of the law firm that employs the attorney, if any.
(8) The date the private arbitration company received the demand for arbitration, the date the arbitrator was appointed, and the date of disposition by the arbitrator or private arbitration company.
(9) The type of disposition of the dispute, if known, identified as one of the following: withdrawal, abandonment, settlement, award after hearing, award without hearing, default, or dismissal without hearing. If a case was administered in a hearing, indicate whether the hearing was conducted in person, by telephone or video conference, or by documents only.
(10) The amount of the claim, whether equitable relief was requested or awarded, the amount of any monetary award, the amount of any attorney’s fees awarded, and any other relief granted, if any.
(11) The name of the arbitrator, his or her total fee for the case, the percentage of the arbitrator’s fee allocated to each party, whether a waiver of any fees was granted, and, if so, the amount of the waiver.
So, now, the enforceability of an arbitration agreement will be one issue. Whether you want the results of all your arbitrations posted online, with all the above information included, is something else. Employers will have to consider whether to use private arbitration services, and whether this information revealed to the public makes arbitration an attractive alternative.
Good luck in 2015.
