Jean Sternlight
is the Michael and Sonja Saltman Professor of Law and the director of
the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at the UNLV William S. Boyd
School of Law.Professor Sternlight's paper, "Disarming Employees: How American Employers Are Using Mandatory Arbitration to Deprive Workers of Legal Protection" was recently listed on the Social Science Research Network's top 10 download list for employment contract law (topic), labor and employment law (topic), labor arbitration law (topic), labor law ejournal, labor: public policy and regulation ejournal, labor (topic), conflict and resolution ejournals, and negotiation subject matter.
The paper is forthcoming in Vol. 80 of the Brooklyn Law Review. Its abstract reads, "Employers’ imposition of mandatory arbitration constricts employees’ access to justice. The twenty percent of the American workforce covered by mandatory arbitration clauses file just 2,000 arbitration claims annually, a miniscule number even compared to the small number of employees who litigate claims individually or as part of a class action. Exploring how mandatory arbitration prevents employees from enforcing their rights the Article shows employees covered by mandatory arbitration clauses (1) win far less frequently and far less money than employees who litigate; (2) have a harder time obtaining legal representation; (3) are often precluded from participating in class, collective or sometimes even group claims; and (4) do not fare well pro se in arbitration. Noting employers’ use of mandatory arbitration is likely increasing, the Article urges Congress to pass the Arbitration Fairness Act both to protect individual employees and also to ensure employment laws are enforced."
Sternlight is nationally and internationally recognized for her scholarship and law reform activities in the field of dispute resolution.
