There are many juicy benefits to the binding arbitration clauses for the employers and myriad other corporations that force them on their employees and their customers. The results of these cases are always confidential, eliminating the possibility of correcting abuses through public exposure. A company with several locations can make it runiously expensive to pursue an arbitration case by choosing an arbitration facility at their most remote physical site. And since the company imposing the arbitration also pays the arbitration costs, it is much more likely that cases will be decided on behalf of the defendant. It´s difficult to compare arbitration results to civil courts due to the confidentiality.
When arbitration was developed it was intended to be used to reduce the load of tort cases between corporations on more or less equal footing, including legal staff. The widespread use of arbitration forced on individuals is relatively recent and far more dubious.
Obviously, I still have trouble with the idea that we can sign away our constitutional right to due process. Is there anything in that revered document that suggests that we can waive away its protections?
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