Avoiding Litigation: The Benefits of Employment Contracts and Arbitration

Authors

  • James J. Coffey Plattsburgh, State University of New York
  • Richard A. Bernardi Rodger Williams University

Abstract

This research reviews the current environment in employment disputes. In an ever-increasing litigious era where it is not uncommon to see six-figure settlements, the entrepreneur needs to examine the possible legal options in the event of a lawsuit involving current or former employees. While many employment-oriented lawsuits are settled through litigation, this is a time-consuming and costly process. Indeed, due to its adversarial nature, dispute resolution through litigation can take years  to settle.   In contrast,  one business strategy that  is growing in popularity includes the use of employment contracts specifying arbitration in dispute resolution. Because arbitration is "almost entirely  separate from  the  legal  system " (Siegel, Sect. 586), it offers many advantages to both employers and employees.

References

American Arbitration Association (1997). National rules for the resolution of employment disputes. New York: American Arbitration Association.

Bales, R. A. (1997). Compulsory arbitration. Cornell University Press: Ithica, NY.

Beatty, J. F. and Samuelson, S. S. (1996). Business law for a new century. Boston: Little Brown and Co.

Bennett, P. ( 1996). Insurance coverage of em ployment disputes. Chicago, IL: American Bar Association.

Business Laws Inc. (1998). Employment contracts (Chap. 2). Chesterland, OH: Business Laws Inc.

Business Laws Inc. (1998). Employment contracts (Chap. 8). Chesterland, OH: Business Laws Inc.

Chew, P. K. (1998). Directors' and officers' liabil ity. New York: Practising Law Institute. Clark, Boardman, & Callaghan. ( 1998). Em ployment discriminator coordinator. Deerfield, IL: West Group.

Elkouri, F. & Elkouri, E. A. (1997). How arbitration works (Vol. 2). Eds. Volz, M. M. and Goggin, E. P., National Affair Inc.

Israel, R. ( 1998). National arbitration/mediation, metropolitan coroorate counsel. from Lexis­Nexis.

Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff, Tichy, & Mathiason. ( 1998). Evaluating and using em ployer­ initiated arbitration policies and agreements: preparing the workplace for the twenty­ first century, In Alternative dispute resolution in the em ployment context. Vol. 2, Chap. 2, Ed. Hancock, W. A., Chesterland, OH: Business Laws Inc.

Lusky, P. M. (1997). Slam the door on employee lawsuits. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press. Olson, J F. & Hatch, J. 0., Ill. (1997). Director and officer liability. St. Paul, MN: West Group.

Sellier, B. C. & Shafter, H. S. ( 1997). Confidentiality of arbitration proceedings, Law Journal, ill(48), New York: West Law.

Siegel, D. D. (1997). New York law practice St. Paul, MN: West Group.

Tobias, P. H. (1997). Litigation: wrongful discharge of claims. St. Paul, MN: West Group. 36 NY Jur 2d. (1997). Damages. Rochester, NY: Lawyers Cooperative Publishing.

NY Jur 2d. (I997). Employment Relations. Rochester, NY: Lawyers Cooperative Publishing.

Downloads

Published

1999-06-17

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 2 (1999)

Section

Articles

License

The Journal of Small Business Strategy (the “Publisher”) and the Author(s) agree as follows:
 
1.Author(s) hereby grant to Publisher all right, title, and interest in and to the Work, including copyright to all means of expression by any method now known or hereafter developed, including electronic format. If Publisher does not publish the Work within two (2) years of the Effective Date, copyright shall revert back to the Author. Publisher agrees to always credit Author(s) as the author(s) of the Work.
 
2.Publisher hereby grants Author a royalty-free, limited license for the following purposes, provided the Work is always identified as having first been published by Publisher.
    •The right to make and distribute copies of all or part of the Work for use in teaching;
    •The right to use all or part of the material contained in the Work in a book by the Author(s), or in a collection of the Author(s)’s work;
    •The right to use and distribute the Work internally at the Author(s)’s place of employment, and for promotion and any other non-commercial purposes;
    •The right to use figures and tables from the Work for any purpose;
    •The right to make presentations of material from the Work;
    •The right to use and distribute the Work on the Author(s)’s Web site and on the Author(s)’s university’s institute repository;
Such license shall be effective when the Work is first published in the Journal of Small Business Strategy.
 
3.The Author(s) represents and warrants that the Work: (a) is the Author(s)’s original work and that Author(s) has full power to enter into this agreement; (b) does not infringe the copyright or property right of another; (c) contains no materials which is obscene, libelous, defamatory or violates another’s civil right, right of privacy, or is otherwise unlawful; and (d) has not been previously published, in whole or in part. Author(s) shall indemnify and hold Publisher harmless against loss or expenses arising from breach of any such warranties.

How to Cite

Avoiding Litigation: The Benefits of Employment Contracts and Arbitration. (1999). Journal of Small Business Strategy (archive Only), 10(2), 32-42. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/413