Technology

I 100% agree, and there's a very good chance those binding arbitration agreements will be thrown out by a court. In law, there's a concept of equal compensation, and if a contract heavily favors one party over another, it is treated as null and void.

For example, at my last job, I pissed off my boss for standing up for myself, but my boss knew I was indespensible, so he transitioned me to a full remote contractor from a salary position. My job was the same, and I was expected to join regular team meetings, but I no longer had my benefits. Anyway, when COVID happened, they "eliminated my position" (probably cost cutting), so I applied for unemployment. It's not available for contract employees, but they said it would be if I was a de-facto employee (I think that's the right term). They investigated, my employer fought it, and they determined that I was, in fact, a de-facto employee because of how I and they saw the agreement. In other words, our contract was voided because it was one-sided and only benefitted the company, and they were forced to backpay my unemployment.

That said, many people don't realize that and are "chilled" (pretty sure that's the legal term) from taking action about it.

I believe we should change contract law to actively push back on this. Contracts should be as simple as possible, understandable by someone with an 8th grade education, and only include terms necessary to provide the service. I shouldn't have to scroll through 30 pages of technical jargon to find out if my rights are being violated, that's unreasonable and should invalidate the entire contract.