August 2007
WIN AT WORK MONTHLY
A Community Service of SESSIONS & KIMBALL LLP, Employee Rights Attorneys
Win at Work	Employee Rights Update
CROSSROADS Are you at a crossroads in struggling with workplace issues? Should you keep quiet or take action? Keeping quiet often makes sense if things are not too intolerable and you really want to keep your job. Employees often endure an unpleasant workplace if the job is too valuable to lose. This may require a certain amount of “tongue holding” or very diplomatic complaining. On the other hand, if you feel your future has reached a dead-end, documenting complaints of wrongdoing may serve to build a case against your employer. In fact, you may even get fired because of your complaints or be forced to quit, which could prove to be a valuable coup if it gives you legal claims that can be converted into a monetary recovery. Many people follow the advice of Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” Yet crossroads can provide valuable opportunities if you know which way to go.	BEWARE OF ILLEGAL ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS In Davis v. O’Melveny & Meyers, 9th Cir., No. 04-56039 (5/14/07), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that an employer’s arbitration agreement was unenforceable. The Court reasoned that the arbitration agreement was procedurally unconscionable because it was imposed upon the employee on a “take it or leave it” basis, and substantively unconscionable because it: 1) shortened the statute of limitations applicable to the employee’s claims; 2) contained an overly broad confidentiality agreement limiting the employee’s ability to properly investigate her claims; 3) allowed the employer, but not the employee, to seek certain injunctive relief in court; and 4) prohibited the employee from filing claims with either the federal or state Labor Commissioner. Since the Court could not strike any single provision to remove the taint of illegality that permeated the agreement as a whole, the entire agreement was deemed unenforceable. Paul B. Miner, Attorney
E-mail us at info@job-law.com to have your address added or removed from our monthly mailing list. For more employee rights information or for past issues of Win at Work Monthly, click here for our website, job-law.com; here to order our book, Employee Rights in California; or contact our office directly at 23456 Madero, Suite 170, Mission Viejo, CA 92691, (949) 380-0900, (800) 774-7494, info@job-law.com. Win at Work Monthly is intended for general information and should not be construed as legal advice or opinion. Readers in need of legal advice should promptly retain the services of an attorney. ©2007 by Sessions & Kimball LLP