[Veliladon]

Of course employers love arbitration. An arbitrator is not bound by precedent, the law, or even the agreement itself. Why does every corporation say they'll pay for the arbitration? Because when you're an arbitrator looking for work you want the corporation to come to you. So you rule for them as often as possible. There's no official collusion but a giant load of perverse incentive for them to be as corrupt as possible.

[ceejayoz]

The company will also be acutely familiar with which arguments worked on the arbitrator in the past and which ones did not.

[nickff]

I am not aware of any pre-employment arbitration agreement which specifies a specific arbitrator. Most specify that a member of a specific group or association must be selected. I doubt that most employers actually know much about the individual arbitrator who is selected (ahead of the selection).

[ceejayoz]

"Arbitrator" here means "the organization the company uses for arbitration", which'll have a set of training standards etc. they tend to have. You shouldn't get wildly different results with different individuals within a one.

[nickff]

I think you'd be surprised at how different individual arbitrators can be. Judges appointed by the same government and operating within the same laws can also vary quite widely.

[nickff]

I don't think that what you're saying is true. It is my understanding that plaintiff lawyers often use the prospect of legal costs at trial to extort a large number of small settlements from large organizations. Arbitration costs are usually much less expensive than either side's legal fees, so covering those costs to avoid the prospect of a trial is advantageous to the employer (and the plaintiff).

[cma]

None of that requires an arbitration agreement from the start. If it really benefits both you can just both agree to arbitration. Or make it opt-in at the start with an explanation of the great benefits.

[nickff]

It may benefit both parties, but it doesn't benefit either counsel. The plaintiff's counsel usually operates under an agreement which guarantees them a certain percentage of any resulting compensation (contingency), and financially punishes the plaintiff for dropping the matter. Once counsel is engaged on contingency, the matter only very rarely goes to arbitration (as arbitration eliminates the prospect of favorable settlement in advance of looming litigation).