On July 8, 2022, in Gist v. ZoAn Management, Inc., the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the decisions of the trial court and court of appeals granting the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration.
The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana will dramatically impact employers’ rights to enforce arbitration agreements related to claims under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).
The appellate court dismissed an appeal, agreeing with the lower court that a football player’s action for damages against a physician for misdiagnosing his injury should proceed in superior court - and not in arbitration.
The Employee and Retiree Access to Justice Act seeks to ban arbitration and discretionary clauses in employer-sponsored benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
An arbitrator recently dismissed a union grievance disputing that the unilateral imposition of a mandatory vaccination practice was a reasonable exercise of management rights and responsibilities under the collective agreement.
Since late fall 2021, we have seen a steady flow of arbitration awards emerge in Ontario and British Columbia that consider issues relating to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies in the unionized workplace.
An arbitrator recently decided that the mandatory vaccination policy of BC Hydro was reasonably necessary to justify the significant intrusion on its employees’ bodily integrity and medical privacy - but the policy's discipline aspect was unreasonable.
An arbitrator in British Columbia held that an employer rightfully terminated an employee who was ineligible for work for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine despite a government order requiring it.
