Mass Arbitrations: Challenges, Benefits, and Proposals for Improvement

In Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the Supreme Court confirmed that federal law permits employers to include class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements. In the wake of that decision, employers have increasingly adopted arbitration programs to gain the benefit of class action waivers. Employee-side class action attorneys have responded by filing "mass arbitrations" as a substitute for traditional class actions. Mass arbitrations can involve hundreds or even thousands of individual arbitrations filed simultaneously. Our panel will review the increasing use of the mass-arbitration approach from the perspective of employer-side and employee-side attorneys. In addition, the panel will discuss proposals for modifying arbitration procedures to accommodate mass arbitrations, including, in particular, the new Mass Arbitration Protocol released by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.Featuring: -- Allen Waxman, President & CEO, International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR)-- David E. Gottlieb, Partner, Wigdor LLP-- Moderator: Christopher C. Murray, Shareholder, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.