LawyersUSA

An arbitration clause in a written employment agreement is enforceable against an employee who doesn't understand English, the 3rd Circuit has ruled.

A Spanish-speaking employee signed his employer's English-language employment agreement despite not understanding it. The agreement included an arbitration provision, the text of which comprised almost half of the agreement.

The employee signed the agreement after a 2-hour orientation conducted entirely in English and with the assistance of a bilingual applicant whose grasp of English was only marginal. A year later the employee was fired for violating jobsite safety rules.

The employee sued for wrongful termination, alleging several causes of action, all of which were covered by the arbitration clause.

The employer sought to compel arbitration. The employee argued the agreement was unenforceable because he was ignorant of its contents.

The court rejected his argument.

"[The employee], in essence, requests … an exception to the objective theory of contract formation where a party is ignorant of the language in which a contract is written. We decline to do so. In the absence of fraud, the fact that an offeree cannot read, write, speak, or understand the English language is immaterial to whether an English-language agreement the offeree executes is enforceable," the court said.

"It was [the employee's] obligation to ensure he understood the agreement before signing. … Moreover, in the almost one year that [the employee] worked for [the employer], he never questioned the terms of the agreement. … [His] signature manifested his assent to the entire agreement, and he is bound by the arbitration clause."

The court cited similar cases from the 7th and 8th Circuits, as well as from state courts in Massachusetts and Montana.

U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit. Morales v. Sun Contractors, Inc., No. 07-3806. August 28, 2008. Lawyers USA No. 99310641. Click here for the full text of this opinion.