I am completely horrible when it comes to remembering acronyms; however, one that I have not forgotten is ADR., which stands for Alternative Dispute Resolution. While there are various forms of ADR, perhaps the most popular (and the one that is becoming more and more common in recent years) is arbitration. But what is arbitration, and why have so many companies been adding an agreement to arbitrate to initial documents signed upon hire and/or their employee handbook?
Arbitration functions much like litigation, where disputing parties have a neutral intermediary (like a judge) preside over a hearing where evidence is seen, arguments and testimony are heard, and the arbitrator (the aforementioned “neutral intermediary”) enforces a final and binding decision that is enforceable by the courts. So far it sounds okay, right? Well, before you make up your mind, here are a few things to consider.
Despite popular belief, a private person can be an arbitrator. As long as both parties believe that the arbitrator has the sufficient experience, knowledge, and levelheadedness to reasonably resolve a dispute, anyone can preside over an arbitration hearing. If this doesn’t leave you feeling a bit uneasy, it should. Just think about some of the imbeciles you’ve been to school with. Now picture that same person deciding whether or not a company or private person is liable for damages to you or someone you love. Feeling sick yet?
Whether or not you love judges or the judicial system as a whole, at least the parties within the system go through vigorous schooling, testing, and so much more in order to make those big, sometimes life-altering decisions. Yes, some arbitrators are attorneys and judges, but not all. In fact, most are not.
If you are signing an arbitration agreement, you are essentially signing away your rights to litigation, which tends to secure the most money for a plaintiff. Absent consent of a plaintiff, if there is not an arbitration clause or agreement, it violates federal law to force an employee to arbitrate; thus, knowing beforehand not to sign an arbitration agreement can save you a huge headache when you are already dealing with other things due to your injury. Things like maintenance.
It may not always seem like it, but seamen do have lots of rights. It’s all about knowing those rights, or at lease knowing those that can help you. At O’Bryan Baun Karamanian, we help to educate our clients. One major area is teaching them that regardless of who is at fault or how the accident occurred, every injured seaman has a right to maintenance and other medical benefits. One thing about maintenance is that the vast majority of seamen are not given the appropriate reparations to live off of while they are injured. And if that isn’t bad enough, many employers have been known to take advantage of this. How? This is when someone from the company approaches you with an arbitration agreement, and offer you a fraction of your salary or pay advances to get by. But, should you just be getting by? Is that all you are worth? Is that what your family is worth? No. Although temptation may be strong, do not fall to the dark side of the force. Most of those who agree to arbitrate lose out on potential maritime workers compensation, and it is far better to have someone at our firm fight for your rights.
In this day and age, employers are quickly learning that arbitration can save them tons of time and money by avoiding litigation, which can get quite costly; not to mention, because compensation and other benefits tend to be greatly reduced during arbitration, employers may try to coerce an employee into signing an arbitration clause. Don’t forget, once an arbitration decision has been made, there are very few ways to dispute the result; as such, let the Jones Act attorneys at O’Bryan Baun Karamanian fight for the compensation and benefits that you deserve. Your future self with thank you for it.
Read these carefully, and do not sign them before thinking it over or talking with us first!
