Big Business is Taking Away Your Rights. Now Here’s What You Can Do…

In our recent series of blog posts, we have discussed how corporations are taking away the rights of both their consumers and employees through arbitration clauses.

If you somehow missed the world famous MG Lawfirm blog recently, the following excerpt should get you up to speed on the impact these clauses are having:

That arbitration clause was likely buried deep in the fine print in a lengthy terms-of-service agreement. Even if you had read (and correctly interpreted) the entire contract, and decided to take your business elsewhere, odds are you would have seen the same clause in every competing company’s terms-of-service agreement, too. Consumers are left with no real recourse: you sign, or you do without a cell phone, or cable TV, or Internet service.

 

Now, imagine facing the same dilemma when placing a loved one in a nursing home — or even looking for a job. Believe it or not, more than 30 million American workers are bound by forced arbitration clauses as a condition of their employment (Franken/Johnson, Huffington Post)

 

Now, the two questions many have been asking us recently, “is there anything being done about this?” and “is there anything that I can do about it?”  Fortunately, the answer to both of these is YES.

Members of Congress have recently introduced the Arbitration Fairness Act. While this law wouldn’t ban arbitration, it would give consumers or employees the option to instead have their dispute heard in court.  No longer would corporations be able to corner you into signing these clauses ahead of time or ban you from joining a class action.

We urge all readers who would like to take action to contact your local Congress members today and ask them to support this bill. You can quickly find out who your local representatives are by clicking here.

In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is considering a proposal to ban those arbitration clauses that block class action lawsuits lawsuits in consumer financial contracts. Please check out this page to see more about their proposal and what you can do to help spread the word.

From the Citizens United decision to other hot topics in the news today, we all know that corporate interest has continued to spill into society and into our laws.  It’s time for individuals to fight back!  And as always, remember that at Mintz & Geftic, WE WILL FIGHT FOR YOU!