Arbitration Agreements Lacking Employer’s Signature Can Be Enforceable, Says Texas Appellate Court (US)
On April 16, 2020, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the First District Court of Texas held that an employer could compel a former employee to arbitrate her wrongful termination case, even though it had not signed the arbitration agreement, because the evidence demonstrated that the employer intended to be bound by the agreement and there was no evidence that the parties intended for the employer’s signature to be a condition precedent to the contract’s enforcement. In SK Plymouth, LLC et al. v. Simmons , the plaintiff brought a wrongful termination suit against her former employers SK Plymouth, LLC, SK E&P Operations America, LLC (SKEPOA), and her former supervisor (collectively the “Appellants”), claiming that her employment was terminated in retaliation for reporting her supervisor’s harassing conduct to the human resources department. Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that her supervisor mistreated her based on her gender, race...