The vast majority of employment disputes are settled, whether the cases are resolved in arbitration or litigation. But of the small percentage of cases that end in a decision, employees are three times more likely to win in arbitration than in court, a study released Thursday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform found.

The analysis conducted by ndp analytics and funded by the business-friendly ILR found that of the 10% of employment decisions resolved by a decision in arbitration and the 14% resolved by a decision in litigation, employees were 32% more likely to win in an arbitration proceeding, compared to 11% in litigation. The report, which ILR touts as the largest study of employment dispute resolution, is based on an analysis of nearly 100,000 employment arbitration cases and federal court cases that ended between 2014 and 2018.

In addition to winning more often, employees who used arbitration also won on average twice as much money as employees who won a court judgment—$520,630 versus $269,885, the study found.

The disputes also were resolved faster in arbitration at 569 days than in litigation at 665 days, it said.

The results show that arbitration is a more efficient way to resolve disputes than litigation, said ILR senior vice president for legal reform policy Matt Webb.

With arbitration, employers “don't have to worry as much about excessive discovery like they do in traditional court-based litigation,” he said in an interview. “The rules surrounding the arbitration process are much less formal, and you should expect that your legal fees on both sides are lower because you don't have to litigate as long or have the sheer level of motions practice.”

The study was released on the same day that the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing titled “Justice Denied: Forced Arbitration and the Erosion of our Legal System” among a shift in public sentiment about arbitration agreements, namely nondisclosure agreements that prohibit employees from speaking publicly about their claims, since #MeToo changed the conversation around harassment and discrimination.

“This study shows hands down that employees fare much, much better in arbitration than they do in litigation,” Lisa Rickard, president of the ILR, said in an emailed statement to Corporate Counsel. “If Congress takes away the option for employees to use arbitration and forces them into filing lawsuits, the only winners will be trial lawyers looking to cash in on excessive litigation.”

The ndp report also found that the overwhelming majority, 79%, of employees filing arbitration claims are lower- to middle-income workers who earn less than $100,000 a year.

“This is a long-term dispute between the trial bar and the business community because they want to find any way they possibly can to increase class action litigation, and unfortunately the folks that are getting lost in the debate are often employees and consumers,” Webb said.