Texas Employment Law Update : Texas Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Russell D. Cawyer : Kelly Hart & Hallman Law Firm : Dallas TX Labor Updates

I just returned from Tulane University Law School's 27th Annual Multi-State Labor and Employment Law Seminar held at the La Cantera resort in San Antonio, Texas.  (See brochure here).  Attendees and presenters at this conference are some of the finest and most experienced labor and employment lawyers in the country.  During my three days at the conference, I did an unscientific, anecdotal survey of the practitioners I visited with.  Without exception, the practitioners I talked to disfavored the arbitration of employment disputes.  I've already written about the disadvantages of arbitration on this blog. (See post here). However, I was surprised that I did not find a single lawyer at this conference (and I don't profess to have spoken to all or even a majority of them) that preferred trying a case in arbitration over a case tried to a judge of jury.  No one I spoke to had ever enjoyed the "benefits" of a faster or more inexpensive resolution of the dispute in arbitration than would have realized in court.  No attorney extolled the virtue of the the limited appeal rights or the "finality" arbitration promises over the appellate rights our Texas rules provide.  Therefore, I want to encourage Texas employers to abandon the use of mandatory arbitration programs with their employees in favor of adopting mutual waivers of jury trials.  To read about the advantages of jury waivers, click here.

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Since at least 2004 Texas law has permitted Texas employers to enter into predispute agreements with their employees to waive a right to a jury trial. The predispute waiver of the right to jury trial can be a desirable option for employers that would prefer to avoid the potential jury trial of a civil rights or employment dispute but also dislike the disadvantages that accompany the mandatory arbitration of disputes.

Last month the Supreme Court of Texas reinforced the enforceability of predispute contractual waivers of the right to a jury trial. In re Bank of America, N.A., --- S.W.3d --- (Tex. Feb. 27, 2009). The Court’s opinion should remind Texas employers of the availability of this option and of the advantages that such agreements may have over arbitration programs. For example, advantages that the wavier of the right to jury trial may enjoy over arbitration include: having a Texas state or federal judge decide the dispute; no expenses incurred in employing the decisionmaker (i.e., judge); and full rights to a meaningful appeal of an adverse decision.

Moreover, despite the current legislation in Congress that is intended to invalidate the predispute arbitration agreements between employers and employees to resolve employment disputes through arbitration, it is unlikely that contractual waivers of the right to a jury trial will be affected by any version of the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Texas employers utilizing mandatory arbitration programs may want to consider adopting a policy or program to make use of contractual waiver of jury trial if the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 passes and invalidates the predispute agreements to arbitrate civil rights and employment disputes.

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