Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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Arbitration is intended to be a simpler remedy than going to court. As a result, companies have pushed to include provisions for mandatory arbitration in contracts and handbooks. This article will examine the foundations of current mandatory arbitration practice and implementation. The goal is to opine on whether arbitration really is simpler, easier, and more efficient.

In labor relations, for example, arbitration’s sanctity was confirmed long ago by the Supreme Court in the Steelworkers Trilogy to avoid strikes and other job actions and work stoppages. (See overview of the trilogy on Arbitration Info, a joint project of the University of Missouri Columbia School of Law and the National Academy of Arbitrators at https://bit.ly/3jB6sdD.) It has been used in the workplace routinely and forms a core provision in most collective bargaining agreements.