Court of Appeal Saves Electronically Signed Arbitration Agreement - Relevant to Other Electronic Acknowledgements Too

Wait, don't skip this one yet. It's not just another arbitration case. If your business uses electronic acknowledgments of policies, handbooks or employment agreements (commissions, confidentiality agreements, etc.), it's worth a read.

In this case, Doctor Espejo sued Kaiser for wrongful termination. The facts aren't important.  At the beginning of employment, Kaiser sent the doctor an email containing electronic links to his offer letter, the dispute resolution procedures (arbitration agreement), "rules and regulations," and a benefits handbook. He accepted his offer and the other materials via an electronic signature that he applied after clicking the links, signing in and following procedures.

The issue that lawyers have to deal with, dear HR and company management, is how to prove that these things happened in litigation.  And that problem came up when Kaiser tried to compel Dr. Espejo to arbitrate.

The trial court rejected Kaiser's attempt to prove that Dr. Espejo signed his arbitration agreement. But the trial court did so because it refused to rely on a declaration that Kaiser submitted after Kaiser had filed its initial Petition to Compel Arbitration.  (Kaiser submitted the additional declaration in response to a new court decision that had come down, trying to satisfy its evidentiary burden.)  The Court of Appeal decided the trial court should have accepted Kaiser's declaration.

With that out of the way, the Court of Appeal made two significant rulings. One applies in the context of compelling arbitration. But one is more generally applicable to proving that electronically signed documents are "authentic" and admissible evidence.

First, the Court of Appeal decided that a party's initial burden on a Petition to Compel arbitration does not include fully "authenticating" an arbitration agreement, unless the other side disputes the agreement is authentic in its opposition.

we conclude that defendants here met their initial burden by attaching to their petition a copy of the purported arbitration agreement bearing Espejo’s electronic signature. Once Espejo challenged the validity of that signature in his opposition, defendants were then required to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the signature was authentic.

That's good news unless, as in this case, the employee is going to deny electronically signing the document.  Doctor Espejo recalled electronically signing his offer letter, but he did not remember authorizing his electronic signature on the other documents.  So, as it says above, Kaiser then had to prove authenticity by a preponderance of the evidence. This issue will arise a lot in other contexts, such as handbook receipts, commission plans, etc.  How does one prove to a court that an electronic acknowledgment is real?  Remember, that's the only reason employers have these sign-offs - in case of litigation.  So, it pays to have a way of proving they are valid.

The Court of Appeal reviewed the law in this area and approved the declaration that Kaiser submitted.  To prove an electronic signature is valid under Civil Code section 1633.9, subd. (a), it is necessary to prove it is the "act of the person" whom you want to establish signed the document.  The Court of Appeal reviewed Kaiser's declaration and decided it was sufficient to do so:

Tellez detailed SCPMG’s security precautions regarding transmission and use of an applicant’s unique user name and password, as well as the steps an applicant would have to take to place his or her name on the signature line of the employment agreement and the DRP. Based on this procedure, she concluded that the “name Jay Baniaga Espejo could have only been placed on the signature pages of the employment agreement and the DRP by someone using Dr. Espejo’s unique user name and password. . . . [¶] Given this process for signing documents and protecting the privacy of the information with unique and private user names and passwords, the electronic signature was made by Dr. Espejo” on the employment agreement and the DRP at the date, time, and IP address listed on the documents. These details satisfactorily meet the requirements articulated in Ruiz and establish that the electronic signature on the DRP was “the act of” Espejo (Civ. Code, § 1633.9, subd. (a)), and therefore provide the necessary factual details to properly authenticate the document.

So, to prove electronic signatures depict the acknowledgment of the person whom the company wants to say signed the document, the following is necessary:

- a company witness has to know how the electronic signature process works and has to be able to explain it in a declaration.  The vendor has to have a white paper explaining the process in plain English, and training for HR and IT;

- the electronic signature process has to have sufficient security safeguards to allow a court to find that it is more likely than not the signature of the person you want it to be.  It always helps to have an email confirmation of the signing event sent to the email user with a return receipt; and

- the lawyer has to know how to draft a proper declaration of a person who can lay foundation regarding knowledge of how the process works and how it was applied to the plaintiff.  (You're welcome).

This case is Espejo v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group and the opinion is here.

California Fair Employment and Housing Council Regulations Effective April 1, 2016 Require Employers to Change EEO Policies Now

The California Fair Employment and Housing Council is issuing revised regulations regarding discrimination, harassment and the like under the Fair Employment and Housing Act.  Shaw Valenza will be publishing a more detailed article in the next couple of weeks, which I'll post here.

The full text of the revised regulations, with redline and strikeout to show the changes is here. 

Some of the changes will not affect how employers do business, but will affect liability in litigation if courts adopt the Council's view.  But there are several new provisions that employers will have to deal with by amending policies and procedures.

The most urgent issue for employers to deal with - right now - is the Council's new, specific requirements for anti-harassment, discrimination and retaliation policies:   Employers already have a duty to distribute a DFEH brochure or alternative document that complies with Govt Code section 12950. But now, the Council requires much more. This is from section 11023(b) of the new regulations:

In addition to distributing the Department’s DFEH-185 brochure on sexual harassment, or an alternative writing that complies with Government Code section 12950, an employer shall develop a harassment, discrimination, and retaliation prevention policy that: 

(1) Is in writing; 

(2) Lists all current protected categories covered under the Act; 

(3) Indicates that the law prohibits coworkers and third parties, as well as supervisors and
managers, with whom the employee comes into contact from engaging in conduct prohibited by the Act; 

(4) Creates a complaint process to ensure that complaints receive:

(A) An employer’s designation of confidentiality, to the extent possible;(B) A timely response; (C) Impartial and timely investigations by qualified personnel; (D) Documentation and tracking for reasonable progress; (E) Appropriate options for remedial actions and resolutions; and (F) Timely closures.

(5) Provides a complaint mechanism that does not require an employee to complain directly to his or her immediate supervisor, including, but not limited to, the following:

(A) Direct communication, either orally or in writing, with a designated company representative, such as a human resources manager, EEO officer, or other supervisor; and/or

(B) A complaint hotline; and/or

(C) Access to an ombudsperson; and/or

(D) Identification of the Department and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as additional avenues for employees to lodge complaints.

(6) Instructs supervisors to report any complaints of misconduct to a designated company representative, such as a human resources manager, so the company can try to resolve the claim internally. Employers with 50 or more employees are required to include this as a topic in mandated sexual harassment prevention training, pursuant to section 11024 of these regulations.  

(7) Indicates that when an employer receives allegations of misconduct, it will conduct a fair, timely, and thorough investigation that provides all parties appropriate due process and reaches reasonable conclusions based on the evidence collected.

(8) States that confidentiality will be kept by the employer to the extent possible, but not indicate that the investigation will be completely confidential 

(9) Indicates that if at the end of the investigation misconduct is found, appropriate remedial measures shall be taken. 

(10) Makes clear that employees shall not be exposed to retaliation as a result of lodging a complaint or participating in any workplace investigation.

These are all good ideas for employers to follow. But these now must be included in a written policy disseminated to all employees.  

The new regulations also explain how the policy must be disseminated:

Dissemination of the policy shall include one or more of the following methods:

(1) Printing and providing a copy to all employees with an acknowledgment form for the employee to sign and return;

(2) Sending the policy via e-mail with an acknowledgment return form;

(3) Posting current versions of the policies on a company intranet with a tracking system
ensuring all employees have read and acknowledged receipt of the policies;

 (4) Discussing policies upon hire and/or during a new hire orientation session; and/or (5) Any other way that ensures employees receive and understand the policies.

(d) Any employer whose workforce at any facility or establishment contains 10 percent or more of persons who speak a language other than English as their spoken language shall translate the policy into every language that is spoken by at least 10 percent of the workforce.

So, multi-state employers, no more "or any other characteristic protected by state law" in your policies. Please review EEO policies and revise them ASAP.  

It is also critical to ensure there are systems in place for addressing complaints should they arise that are consistent with the policy - such as translation if needed, dissemination of the policy and record keeping, investigations, complaint procedures, etc.

Court of Appeal Finds Insufficient Evidence Attributing Electronic Signature to Employee

Employers increasingly rely on electronic acknowledgements of policies and procedures.  An "electronic signature" is valid under California law.  But the reason those signatures exist is so that employers can prove the employee read and signed the document.  That's what Moss Bros. Auto found out in a recent case.

The document was an arbitration agreement, which Moss Bros. claimed that its employee, Ruiz, signed.  However, Ruiz claimed he did not "remember" signing it.  So, Moss Bros. had to establish that he did when it moved to compel Ruiz to arbitrate his wage-hour claims.

Moss Bros. adduced the declaration of its business manager, Mary K. Main, who was “required to be familiar with the generation and maintenance” of employee personnel records. Main summarily asserted that Ruiz “electronically signed” the 2011 agreement “on or about September 21, 2011,” and that the same agreement was presented to “all persons who seek or seek to maintain employment” with Moss Bros. or its affiliated dealerships and service/parts centers. Main did not explain how Moss Bros. verified that Ruiz, or other Moss Bros. employees, electronically signed the 2011 agreement. 

The 2011 agreement is just over two pages in length. “Ernesto Zamora Ruiz” appears in print on the first page, under the title, “Employee Acknowledgment and Agreement,” and the phrases “Ernesto Zamora Ruiz (Electronic Signature)” and “9/21/2011 11:47:27 AM” appear in print on the third page, under the signature and date lines of the 2011 agreement. 

In a supplemental declaration, Main testified that Ruiz had to log in using a unique user name and password. 

The court of appeal decided that was not enough because Main did not "authenticate" the electronic signature.  here is the standard for doing so:

Civil Code section 1633.9 addresses how a proponent of an electronic signature may authenticate the signature—that is, show the signature is, in fact, the signature of the person the proponent claims it is. The statute states: “(a) An electronic record or electronic signature is attributable to a person if it was the act of the person. The act of the person may be shown in any manner, including a showing of the efficacy of any security procedure applied to determine the person to which the electronic record or electronic signature was attributable.” (Civ. Code, § 1633.9, subd. (a), italics added.) 

Here, the court found that Main's testimony about the general procedures applicable to electronically signing the arbitration agreement was insufficient.  The court provided some hints as to what would have been enough:

Main did not explain that an electronic signature in the name of “Ernesto Zamora Ruiz” could only have been placed on the 2011 agreement (i.e., on the Employee Acknowledgement form) by a person using Ruiz’s “unique login ID and password”; that the date and time printed next to the electronic signature indicated the date and time the electronic signature was made; that all Moss Bros. employees were required to use their unique login ID and password when they logged into the HR system and signed electronic forms and agreements; and the electronic signature on the 2011 agreement was, therefore, apparently made by Ruiz on September 21, 2011, at 11:47 a.m. Rather than offer this or any other explanation of how she inferred the electronic signature on the 2011 agreement was the act of Ruiz, Main only offered her unsupported assertion that Ruiz was the person who electronically signed the 2011 agreement. In the face of Ruiz’s failure to recall electronically signing the 2011 agreement, the fact the 2011 agreement had an electronic signature on it in the name of Ruiz, and a date and time stamp for the signature, was insufficient to support a finding that the electronic signature was, in fact, “the act of” Ruiz. (Civ. Code, § 1633.9, subd. (a).) For the same reason, the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that the electronic signature was what Moss Bros. claimed it was: the electronic signature of Ruiz. (Evid. Code, § 1400, cl. (a).) This was not a difficult evidentiary burden to meet, but it was not met here. 

As a result, the court found there was insufficient evidence of an agreement to arbitrate and upheld the trial court's denial of Moss Bros.'s petition to compel arbitration.

Yes, it may be that Moss Bros. failed to compel Ruiz to arbitrate due to a poorly drafted declaration, rather than some flaw in the electronic signing protocol.  But litigators need proof that an employee signed handbook acknowledgements, training attendance forms, etc. Although an arbitration agreement was involved here, this decision applies to all sorts of electronically signed documents.  The average manager has no idea how the electronic signing process works, cannot testify that he or she actually saw the employee at the computer electronically signing, etc.

Therefore, when implementing electronic versions of documents, employers must have their IT professionals build in ways to do so.  For example, there could be an acknowledgment email sent to the employee, with a copy to the employer.  Or  the IT management could create a step-by-step explanation of how the system ensures that the  name appearing on the electronic application is attributable to the actual person and not merely inserted later. 

This case is Ruiz v. Moss Bros. Auto and the decision is here.

Court of Appeal: No Post-Lawsuit Change to Arbitration Policy

The court of appeal's decision in  Avery v. Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc. contains a number of lessons about administering policies and litigating.   So, yes, it's another arbitration decision, but more interesting.

First, Tenet owned some hospitals that it later sold to Integrated. Tenet had in place a “Fair Treatment Process,” which included arbitration.  Applicants and employees signed off on this process at a number of different points in their employment relationship. Integrated maintained the arbitration program after the purchase, but made some changes and called it the Alternative Dispute Resolution Process. 

Avery brought a class action for unfair competition, failure to pay appropriate overtime wages, failure to provide meal and rest periods, failure to pay wages when due, and failure to provide accurate wage statements. 

While the lawsuit was pending, Integrated unilaterally changed the arbitration clause by adding a class arbitration waiver.  Integrated posted the change on its intranet page.  But it did not provide employees with a copy of the new employee handbook containing the arbitration provision change, instruct employees to review the new handbook on the intranet, or even notify employees of the existence of the new handbook.

Integrated tried to compel arbitration of each individual plaintiff's claim. The trial court denied its motion to compel. The Court of Appeal affirmed.

The court made two important decisions.  First, the court held that Integrated's class action waiver was unenforceable, but not because of the ongoing war about class action waivers.  Rather, the court held that it was invalid because it was issued after the claims arose, and Integrated failed to notify employees about the new employee handbook. As a result, Integrated was required to rely on the arbitration clause in the Tenet Employee Handbook, the Fair Treatment Process.

 

an employer may not make unilateral changes to an arbitration agreement that apply retroactively to “accrued or known” claims because doing so would unreasonably interfere with the employee’s expectations regarding how the agreement applied to those claims.  (Peleg v. Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. (2012) 204 Cal.App.4th 1425, 1465 (Peleg).)  Similarly, the employer must give the employee reasonable notice regarding changes the employer makes so the employee is aware of his or her rights under the agreement.  (Serpa v. California Surety Investigations, Inc. (2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 695, 706-708 (Serpa).)  Both of these rules prevent Integrated from applying the Alternative Dispute Resolution Process to Plaintiffs’ claims.

Of note, although there are cases disfavoring "policy" based arbitration provisions, the court emphasized that it is ok to have an arbitration agreement in a policy, and even to make changes. But those changes have to be prospective in application only, and the employer must ensure the employees receive reasonable and actual notice of the changes.

Second, the court decided that the trial court correctly denied the motion to compel arbitration, even under the Tenet policy.  Why?  Because the Integrated could not prove that employees had agreed to the Fair Treatment Process that it attached to its motion.  So, the employees signed off on the application and other forms stating they had received the Fair Treatment Process, but there was evidence that there was more than one of those in existence.  The court had no way of knowing if the Fair Treatment Process that was attached to the motion was the one employees agreed to.

Integrated contends the trial court erred in denying its motions to compel arbitration because Plaintiffs each agreed to arbitrate their claims under the Fair Treatment Process set forth in the Tenet Employee Handbook. According to Integrated, the Employee Acknowledgment Form, Application for Employment, and Transition Letter Plaintiffs signed incorporated the Fair Treatment Process and established its binding arbitration provisions as the exclusive means for resolving all claims regarding Plaintiffs’ employment. Although we agree Plaintiffs (except Cade) generally agreed to a Fair Treatment Process by signing one or more of these documents, we nonetheless affirm the trial court’s order denying the motions to compel arbitration because Integrated failed to present sufficient evidence establishing the specific Fair Treatment Process it presented to the trial court was the Fair Treatment Process to which Plaintiffs agreed.

The lesson here?  Ensure that there is a way of identifying handbooks and other documents (such as a control number, version, etc.).  In this case, the application and other documents "incorporated by reference" the full text of the Fair Treatment Process, but there was no way of knowing which version the employee agreed to.  It is critical to have a way of matching the receipt to the policy document.

This case is Avery v. Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc. and the opinion is here.