INSIDE COMPLIANCE

Today, the rapid proliferation of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements (MAAs) in modern U.S. commercial and employment transactions represents a clear and concerning trend: a pervasive and increasingly normalized paradigm shift in which big business exercises an unreasonable amount of legal control over consumers and employees alike. Important high profile examples – such as Disney, Kellog’s, and General Mills – spotlight how seamlessly such contractual clauses are used to preempt the rights of consumers and workers. Ultimately, these clauses effectively ban workers and consumers from bringing otherwise legally sound claims to the courtroom. The increasingly ubiquitous use of MAA’s represents a threat to basic principles of justice and fairness, exacerbating an already corporate friendly regulatory dynamic and commercial legal environment. However, this present reality is not predestined. Legislative proposals like the FAIR Act represent important balancing opportunities for federal regulators to empower consumers and workers by protecting them from unknowingly signing away their legal rights, and potential remedies, often with one simple click.