Contact: Terry O’Neill Executive Director (415) 296-7629 toneill@nelahq.org
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NELA & THE NELA Institute Issue Joint Statement Praising Google’s Move To End Forced Arbitration For Workers
Statement Of NELA Executive Director Terry O’Neill
WASHINGTON, DC — The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and The Employee Rights Advocacy Institute For Law & Policy (The NELA Institute) strongly commends Google employees for their hard-fought, successful campaign to end forced arbitration in their workplace. We also praise Google for being responsive to their workers and committing to end its practice of forcing its employees to privately arbitrate employment disputes.
In response to the news, NELA & NELA Institute Executive Director Terry O’Neill stated, "With this announcement, Google has shown leadership in voluntarily ending a practice that is inherently unfair and serves only to obscure workplace wrongdoing. Unfortunately, this skewed system remains the standard practice among most of America’s top companies. We urge other industry leaders to follow suit by retracting their forced arbitration employment policies straightaway.
Moreover, given the demonstrable harm forced arbitration causes to individuals, we call on Congress to take direct action to reopen the courthouse doors for all workers and consumers by immediately passing legislation to end forced arbitration once and for all.”
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The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) advances employee rights and serves lawyers who advocate for equality and justice in the American workplace. NELA provides assistance and support to lawyers in protecting the rights of employees against the greater resources of their employers and the defense bar. It is the country’s largest professional organization exclusively comprised of lawyers who represent individual employees in cases involving employment discrimination and other employment-related matters. NELA and its 69 circuit, state, and local Affiliates have more than 4,000 members around the country.