Alaska Employment Law

The National Employment Lawyers Association, the employee rights group, has submitted an amicus brief in Gibson v. Nye Frontier Ford, S-13064, in which the Alaska Supreme Court granted a petition for review on the validity of a pre-dispute arbitration policy that requires the employee to pay 50 % of the forum costs.  Superior Court Judge John Suddock upheld that provision.

According to NELA:

In this case, the Alaska Supreme Court is asked to consider, as a matter of first impression in that state, the effect of a provision in a binding pre-dispute mandatory arbitration clause requiring the employee to pay half the forum costs of the mandated arbitration procedures. NELA Program Director Stefano G. Moscato (CA) wrote an amicus brief, with technical support from NELA member Lee Holen (AK), to emphasize why adopting a bright-line rule against cost-splitting makes good sense as a matter of public policy.

Specifically, NELA’s brief highlights the studies, articles and cases across the country that consistently have found that individuals forced to raise their employment claims in arbitration have been required to pay thousands (and often tens of thousands) of dollars to private arbitrators for adjudication services that would have been available in the public courts for a nominal filing fee. And in far too many cases, the threat of such fees has been enough to deter individuals from pursuing their claims in arbitration. Moreover, the alternative rule (i.e., a case-by-case approach requiring the employee to demonstrate that arbitration of that employee’s particular case would be prohibitively expensive) would effectively require employees to litigate the allocation of arbitration fees, thereby adding a second layer of deterrence and increasing the likelihood that even an employee with a strong case is unlikely to pursue those claims if she or he believes that the cost of obtaining arbitration services could be prohibitively high.

Ken Legacki represents the employee.  Jeff Friedman represents the employer.