Rojgar Job News

Suppose there’s an old employment agreement between the employer and employee. Then the employer fires the employee. But there’s been a few intervening events and it’s not exactly clear that the employment agreement still applies. Indeed, there’s another contract (let’s call it an supplier agreement) that seems to provide an independent basis for ending the relationship. Nevertheless, the employment agreement contains an arbitration provision.  Are the parties still required to go to arbitration even when one party (namely the employer) argues the contract is void? Yes, says a new Connecticut Appellate Court decision called Stack v. Hartford Distributors, Inc.. (For background, the employment lawyers out there should look first at a 2007 Supreme Court case that established the strong preference to enforcement of arbitration provisions, which you can find here.  The rest of us can carry on.) For the court, it noted that the employer appears to ...

Somewhere, some employer might be thinking: Hey, why don’t I make employees sign a promissory note to pay me back if they leave before six months! That would be a great idea! It would also be against the law. Thus, the next installment of the Employment Law Checklist Project #emplawchecklist.  The law is set forth at Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 31-51r. The key prohibitions are set forth in subsection (b) and (c) as follows: (b) On or after October 1, 1985, no employer may require, as a condition of employment, any employee or prospective employee to execute an employment promissory note. The execution of an employment promissory note as a condition of employment is against public policy and any such note shall be void. If any such note is part of an employment agreement, the invalidity of such note shall not affect the other provisions of such agreement. (c) Nothing in this section shall prohibit or render void any agreement between an employer and an employee (1) requiring th...