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In the Fall we celebrated California Governor Gavin Newsom signing into law Assembly Bill 51, thus prohibiting employers from requiring employees, or applicants for employment, to sign mandatory arbitration agreements. The new law was supposed to go into effect January 1, 2020, paving the way for a return to a transparent, fair and just system of dispute resolution. In a last-ditch attempt to keep the game on a tilted playing field, the Chambers of Commerce of the United States and California, as well as the National Retail Federation and the National Association of Security Companies filed a Temporary Restraining Order against California’s Attorney General, Labor Commissioner, and the Departments of Labor and Fair Employment and Housing. The TRO was granted by the US District Court for the Eastern District of California, and an expedited hearing date for a preliminary injunction has been set for January 10, 2020.
This means that Californian employees have to wait a little longer than expected to regain their fundamental right to a jury trial. We will keep you posted on the progress of the law passed as Assembly Bill 51.
We have experience in successfully representing sexual harassment and race discrimination victims against employers large and small in jury trials and arbitrations. If you have questions about an arbitration agreement, contact the California Civil Rights Law Group at 415-453-4740. You can schedule a confidential consultation with an attorney by phone or in one of our law firm offices in San Anselmo (Marin County), San Francisco, or Oakland (Alameda County).