As it turns out (I just has cause to find this out but we’ll talk about all that some other time) labor conditions vary state to state because state labor law falls under states rights. So, I should have said “here in the at-will state within the US where I live and work, agreeing to binding arbitration is ordinarily a condition of employment.”
It could be worse, I could live in a right-to-work state where pay is generally lower and conditions worse because labor laws are even more slanted away from the worker and toward the employer.
ETA: Thanks for giving me hope things are better elsewhere
Kids buy Star Wars stuff. Can minors even enter into binding arbitration?
They can’t enter into conventional contracts, as I understand it (but NB I am SO not a lawyer).
So, would this apply to little Jimmy, if he spent his paper route money on it?
The solution to this behavior may lie in coordinated mass litigation. Multiple parties, enough to constitute a class, is sufficient to break an arbitration mechanism in a punitive manner. The main obstacle is risk to individuals and their representation, but there is a way to leverage this towards economically harming a company.
