Real Stories: Sherri Warner
Sherri Warner
California
After being repeatedly sexually harassed by her boss and then fired when she complained, Sherri Warner filed a discrimination and wrongful firing suit against her employer.
However, as a condition of the contract Warner signed with her employer, she was not allowed to bring her case before a judge and jury. Instead, when Warner signed her contract, she signed away her legal rights by agreeing to pursue claims of discrimination through mandatory arbitration.
Warner lost her case before an arbitrator without any opportunity to appeal. Not only was the arbitrator unsympathetic to her case, but he also decided that she should be responsible for footing the bill for the hearing, a move that probably would not have been allowed in court. In addition to the $16,000 the arbitrator charged her for his time, he also ordered her to pay her employer’s legal fees of more than $207,000, forcing Warner into bankruptcy.
The arbitrator, like most, did not issue a written decision, and when asked by Warner's lawyer to explain his logic, he refused. Unfortunately, due to the Supreme Court's decision in Circuit City v. Adams, stories like Sherri’s are not uncommon. Employers are free to coerce workers into sacrificing their constitutionally protected access to the courts.
