Category: Regulation | Area of Effect: Legal Reform
The World Assembly,
Acknowledging that disputes between firms and individuals often arise over matters of civil rights, employment, and consumer goods;
Noting that joint, class, and collective lawsuits are a crucial avenue through which individuals and small businesses may settle such disputes with larger firms and seek compensation for incidents of wrongdoing;
Understanding that arbitration, when a voluntary decision by the involved parties, is a valid avenue of settling disputes such as those related to international commerce;
Distraught, however, at the prevalence of the use by firms of forced arbitration agreements and agreements that waive the right to sue, which are often a condition of employment or using a product or service, and often take place in a private forum controlled by said firm;
Seeking to end the unjust use of forced arbitration agreements, which grossly violate the rights of workers and consumers;
Hereby,
- Defines:
- "Arbitration" as the deciding of a legal dispute in a private forum outside of a member-nation's judiciary, the decision made by which is legally binding and enforceable;
- "Forced arbitration agreements" as pre-dispute agreements mandating the use of arbitration to resolve any existing and future disputes between the involved parties;
- Prohibits:
- All forced arbitration agreements;
- All agreements and practices that prevent or otherwise unnecessarily impede individuals and small businesses from participating in a joint, class, or collective legal action;
- Invalidates all existing forced arbitration agreements as applicable to disputes occurring after this law becomes effective;
- Asserts that no clause of this legislation is applicable to any agreement between a firm and a labor organization, or between labor organizations, unless such an agreement has the effect of waiving the right of an individual to seek judicial enforcement of their legally-given rights;
- Encourages member-nations to protect the rights of individuals to seek judicial enforcement of their legally-given rights.
- Clarifies that no part of this legislation shall be used to prohibit voluntary arbitration.
