Their Day In Court: Low-Wage Women Workers and Forced Arbitration Agreement

Imagine that you’re a live-in housekeeper. One day, your employer asks you to sign an arbitration agreement – meaning that should any claims arise against your employer, they will be handled out of court. You sign. Later on, you accept a subpoena on behalf of your boss. He proceeds to beat you up. When you sue him, the court points to the arbitration agreement and tells you the matter must be worked out outside of court.

This nightmare became a reality for a woman in Virginia. Given that the agreement she signed designated a particular entity that must be used for all arbitration, and that entity has now been shut down and cannot arbitrate, the Circuit Court of Fairfax County suggests that a new entity be selected rather than allowing her claims to go forward in court.

We have long argued that arbitration agreements can be harmful for workers – by, for example, shutting off their ability to pursue class claims. Keeping claims of workplace discrimination and abuse out of courts prevents workers in low-wage occupations, like housekeeping, from accessing the justice they deserve. Low-wage women workers deserve their day in court, too.