In the wake of an Appellate Division ruling invalidating Pfizer Inc.’s electronic distribution of a mandatory arbitration agreement to its workers, companies using computers and email to obtain employees’ approval of such policies should be candid about the arbitration agreement and its potential waiver of the employee’s statutory rights.

In Skuse v. Pfizer, the appeals court refused to enforce a mandatory arbitration agreement that the drugmaker emailed to employees for viewing during online training. In a Jan. 16 ruling, the appeals court said the manner of presenting the arbitration clause was too “oblique” and failed to provide the requisite assent of employees.