This bill, presented by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, addresses the current condition where employers can force employee applicants to sign away their rights to legal recourse to abuse by companies. Currently, an employer can require the applicant to sign a Mandatory Binding Agreement that prevents a court action in a dispute. Instead, the case goes before an arbitrator, a person without any specific training in law and worse, hired solely by the employer. In addition, this contract clause prevents any employee under this contract from joining a class action suit against the company.
AB 3080 will address this problem and will “ensure that a person is not required, as a condition of employment, to waive their right to take worker protection claim (such as those involving sexual assault, harassment, discrimination, pay equity, or retaliation) to court or a state agency”.
This is only part of the threat to our right to legal protections . Mandatory Binding Arbitration has infiltrated into more and more of our day-to-day purchase contracts.
K. Brian Colclasure resides in Chula Vista.
