, the court found the arbitration clauses "contained in various agreements signed by the Spanish-speaking petitioners relating to their purchase of a Dodge Caravan from a car dealership were unenforceable. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the trial court's ruling that the arbitration clauses could not be enforced because they were conflicting and unconscionable" particularly given the low level of English literacy of the consumers (Oppenheimer 2014)
Of course, the fired employee can always sue and/or complain to the EEOC or other relevant agencies. Industries that would tend to be union/arbitration-minded would be working class and blue-collar jobs while professional jobs are rarely union, although some can be (Guerin, 2016)
Employees have much less recourse without a union but all employees (or ex-employees) have options if they think they have been wronged. References Guerin, L. (2016)
Brady was accused by the NFL of tampering with the air pressure of the balls and was suspended by the league. Brady appealed the decision and the federal judge Berman heard the arguments of the two sides in what was an instance of "super-arbitration" with the federal judiciary acting as final arbitrator between the NFL and the Patriots (Belson, 2015)
Yet as Carrington (1984) notes at the beginning of the ADR movement decades prior to its surging popularity today, the alternative dispute resolution movement drew much criticism from legal professionals and social critics. They viewed ADRs as "banner" under which "at least three different aversions unite" -- an aversion for the "law itself," for lawyers, and for "judicial procedures" (Carrington, 1984, p
Nonetheless ADRs are now commonplace, happening all over the world in various forms. There are cases of mediation and adjudication in Hong Kong (Chau, 2007), all throughout the West, and a staple of dispute resolution processes now in one of the most populate and advanced cities in the world -- New York
Indeed, recourse to the law has become increasingly viewed as last alternative when all else, ADRs included, fail. At the same time, some in the judicial branch have lauded the ADR as a way to restore public trust in the judicial services of the nation (Eisenberg, Wohl, Guerin, 2013, p
All over the bureaucratized world, alternative dispute resolution processes are seen more frequently. Even in the developing world, this is occurring, as courtroom trials are eschewed for more intimate and less formalized proceedings that cost less and can be conducted with less tension and at a faster pace (Fiadjoe, 2004)
At the USPS, the rules regarding discharge for off-duty conduct at the time when Lee was employed as a mailman were as stated: Under rule 661.53, employees were prohibited from engaging in "unacceptable conduct" such as "criminal, dishonest, notoriously disgraceful or immoral conduct, or other conduct prejudicial to the Postal Service" and the conviction "may be grounds for disciplinary action" (Holley, 2012, p
627). For this reason, there was no "just cause" for Lee's termination, which was needed for that management to release the employee (Mayhew, 2015): in fact, the Postal Service appeared to have been hard pressed to invent reasons for why Lee's termination was justified -- which was evident as the Union pointed out
The Union claims that the nexus was not related to the Postal Service and therefore did not impact or fall within the jurisdiction of the rules. This is also known as the "nexus principle" in labor arbitration and something that can provide a ground for favorable decision (Secunda, 2004, p