Over the last decade, employers have more and more often incorporated jury waiver or mandatory arbitration clauses into their employment arrangements to avoid the perceived horror of facing jury review of the way they treat their employees. These clauses are often presented in circumstances that many argue are deceptive, if not downright coercive.
Despite the significance of an employee signing away a legal right that lies at the very base of our civil justice system, there is almost never any effort to explain to the employee what the waiver or arbitration agreement means or even that they are giving up any right at all. In fact, quite the reverse is the rule. The statement of jury waiver or agreement to arbitrate is often either stuck at the very end of an online or hard copy application form or is presented as a separate document to the employee by a third assistant personnel clerk on the first morning of work as part of an orientation papers package that contains the W-4 form, the health, disability and life insurance election forms, perhaps, a lengthy personnel handbook with an attached receipt and acknowledgement of understanding form and any other documents the company feels it needs for its personnel file on the new worker.
