Legal Question in Employment Law in Massachusetts

Re: What is a dispute resolution agreement

Your question provides the opportunity for me to address two points. First, and this comes up all the time, I would like to suggest that you do NOT want to be signing legal documents if you do not understand what they mean before you sign them. People do this all the time and I want to stress for everyone out there that, in general, the law presumes that you understand what you are signing!

OK, now I feel better. On to your question. Without the specific agreement in front of me, I can only give you a general answer, but here goes. Most likely, what you have signed is an agreement that says that, if you ever have any type of dispute with the company, that you agree to bring the dispute to either mediation or arbitration as opposed to the courts. Mediation is a voluntary process whereby the parties try to come to an agreement which everyone can live with. Arbitration is (usually) a binding process whereby an arbitrator decides the case (much like a judge or a jury). The agreement probably says that you have waived your right to bring a case before a jury. Dispute resolution agreements are not necessarily bad for employees (though sometimes they are). It depends a lot on the wording of the particular agreement. Hope this helps.

Evan

Re: What is a dispute resolution agreement

By signing agreement you waived your rights to sue employer in court and to resolve disputes through arbitration or mediation. Question exists if this includes claims for illegal discrimination based on age, race, gender, etc.