A recent Ninth Circuit ruling, in Martinez-Gonzalez v. Elkhorn Packing Co., LLC, provides clarity that arbitration agreements can apply to workers with H-2A visa status.
In overturning the earlier decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the Ninth Circuit found the plaintiff, Dario Martinez-Gonzalez, an H-2A temporary agricultural worker visa holder from Mexico, had not been compelled to sign arbitration agreements, which were written in his native Spanish and revocable within 10 days, Jason Resnick, senior vice president and general counsel with the Western Growers Association, told the Northern California Record.
The court based its decision on the individual fact pattern, Resnick said.
“So the court said these facts alone did not make the agreement unenforceable,” Resnick said. “In this case the record was clear that there was no evidence of bad faith or a coercive purpose by the employer.”
The 2-1 decision, authored by Justice Patrick Bumatay, was handed down Nov. 3. Justice Eugene Siler of the Sixth District, sitting by designation, concurred, and Ninth Circuit Justice Johnnie Rawlinson dissented.
“Martinez-Gonzalez has not established that Elkhorn engaged in any ‘wrongful act’ under California law,” Justice Bumatay wrote for the majority.
Because the Martinez-Gonzalez case was filed in 2018, Resnick noted that 2019’s AB 51 arbitration law would not apply.
“But the question of whether, going forward, would H-2A labor arbitration agreements be impacted by AB 51, the answer to that is yes, if AB 51 is deemed to be enforceable,” Resnick said. “But that law is being challenged and will continue to be challenged, and it would not surprise me if the high court finds AB 51 unconstitutional or in violation of the Federal Arbitration Act.”
But the Ninth Circuit ruling in Martinez-Gonzalez provides clarity that as long as the arbitration agreement is procedurally and substantively compliant, employers can proceed with confidence to seek arbitration to resolve disputes with employees, Resnick said.
“Arbitration gives the opportunity to both the employee and the employer to resolve disputes more expeditiously,” Resnick said. “Whereas going through the courts can take years, so arbitration is often preferred to more quickly resolve disputes.”