In a significant decision highlighting the importance of drafting even-handed employee arbitration agreements, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit disagreed with the District Court’s determination that provisions favoring the employer in a predispute employment arbitration agreement were severable. In Nino v. The Jewelry Exchange, Inc. , 2010 WL 2380787 (3d Cir. June 15, 2010), the Third Circuit held that the employer-friendly provisions invalidated the entire agreement. Accordingly, the Third Circuit reversed the District Court’s order compelling arbitration of the employee’s discrimination claims.
In January 2000, defendant Jewelry Exchange, Inc. d/b/a Diamonds International (“DI”), one of the largest jewelry retailers in the world, hired plaintiff Rajae Nino, a homosexual Jordanian national, as a gemologist and salesperson. DI presented Nino with its standard employment contract, which contained a “grievance and arbitration procedure” stating that it constituted the “sole, final, binding and exclusive remedy for any and all employment -related disputes.” The contract required an employee “to satisfy a series of requirements” before becoming “eligible to arbitrate a dispute.”
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