Arbitration

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Today’s guest post comes from Michael Schofield, Esq., from the Clark Partington firm in Pensacola. He will be presenting at the Florida Law Alliance Fall Employment Law Conference taking place on Friday, November 10, 2017 (see below for more details):

Traditionally, when an employer and employee have a dispute over working conditions, terms, pay, or whatever, the employee quits or is fired, the employer then receives notice of a pending claim, either through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the EEOC), or the state’s agency, and perhaps notice of a lawsuit. Recently, however, more employers are requiring arbitration in contracts of employment and such contractual agreements are being upheld.

In an employment context, is arbitration a good thing, bad thing, or simply and alternative to trial?

Continue Reading What You Need to Know About Employment Dispute Arbitration

Guest post by Henderson Franklin Attorneys Suzanne Boy and Carlos Kelly

iStock_000015122897XSmallThese are important questions, and like many questions involving the law, the answer is “It depends.” There are pros and cons to both arbitration and a traditional lawsuit in court. Arbitration can be (but is not always) faster. But faster doesn’t necessarily mean cheaper all the way around.

Is faster better?

For example, the filing and arbitrator fees can be significantly higher (at least double) than filing fees for many civil lawsuits. And, if arbitration is quicker than resolving a dispute in the court system, that may not necessarily translate to significantly smaller legal fees. Instead, a similar amount of work (discovery, pre-trial motions, and exchanging exhibits, for example) could take place in a shorter amount of time.

Arbitration can be useful if you have a dispute that you want to keep out of the public eye, though a noisy party on the other side of the case could still bring media or social media attention.

Proceeding through the court system can be (but is not always) slower than resolving a dispute through arbitration.

Can you appeal the decision?Continue Reading Business Owners: Should You Arbitrate or Should You Litigate in Court?