Are employees allowed to discuss arbitral proceedings, its merit and documents disclosure with third parties if they signed an exclusive arbitration agreement? In Pfizer,...
Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas, (SCOTUS Docket No. 18-96), whose US Supreme Court Decision is set to be announced in June 2019, asks the Justices to...
About us Melchionna PLLC represents and assists North American and European business clients in achieving their goals with sound legal advice and innovative solutions to current...
On October 9, 2018 the City and State of New York introduced and enforced an in-depth protocol regarding the prevention, investigation and sanction of sexual harassment in the...
Restricted stocks conferred to employees, that is stocks that employees can transfer after vesting, are subject to certain tax rules that distinguish them from granted or fully...
In South Dakota v. Wayfair et al., (585 U.S. ___, 2018) the Supreme Court of the United State has overturned a precedent previously established in Qill Corp. V. North Dakota...
In Pacific Management Group et al. v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo 2018-131), the Tax Court has established that a reorganization with the intent of postponing tax payments on a flow...
The most recently published data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) prove the strength of the American economy, with a GDP that shows a growth of 3.2% in the third...
The National Defense Authorization Act, introduced for the 2019 fiscal year, has updated and broadened the powers of the Commission on Foreign Investments in the United States...
The FDA has recently finalized some regulations regarding the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). The goal is to help companies that operate in the pharmaceutical industry...
Are employees allowed to discuss arbitral proceedings, its merit and documents disclosure with third parties if they signed an exclusive arbitration agreement? In Pfizer, Inc., (Case 10-CA-175850) an administrative law judge of the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) ruled that a confidentiality obligation within the employment arbitration clause is prohibited under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Pfizer did not apply Epic System Corp. v. Lewis (584 U.S. ___ (2018)) and/or AT&T Mobility LLC v. Conception (563 U.S. 333 (2011)) stating that both cases did not control. In Epic the US Supreme Court confirmed the validity of an arbitration clause that bars employees under collective contracts from filing a class action.
The ALJ argument rests on the distinction between procedural and substantive right analysis: Epic allowed employees to be limited by a mere procedural right (as a class); on the contrary, it seems that Employees cannot be limited in their substantive right to discuss their cases with third parties. More litigation is underway shaping the final judicial determination.
Pending this litigation, employers are encouraged to carefully review their arbitration clauses and its confidentiality statements.
The information provided here does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice but simply information for general purposes only and may not be the most up to date. Use of our website or any of its links or resources do not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader, user, or browser and the law firm. The views expressed at, or through, this site are those of the individual authors writing in their individual capacities only.