VALIDITY OF THE MANDATORY ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS UNDER THE U.S. FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT

Abstract

The United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights had from 27-29 November, 2017 convened in Geneva and the central theme for discussion was on “Access to Effective Remedy.” With the growing importance of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, a working group of people specializing in international law had proposed to make arbitration the means through which human right abuses in businesses could be addressed. This paper argues that though international arbitration could be a good way of solving disputes of this nature, one cannot ignore the ill effects it could have on the victims. It discusses briefly about the History of the Federal Arbitration Act in the United States of America. It also examines the approach taken by the Judiciary both at the federal and state level in America and how has their interpretation paved way for the recent legislative developments in the 115th Congress. Furthermore, it discusses the importance of consent between the parties when entering into employment agreements and how could it affect the rights of the workers. With the increasingly globalized world that we live in, these disputes do not necessarily arise in all the parties residing and belonging to the same jurisdiction. The paper will conclude with plausible solutions will be offered to address the loopholes present if the international arbitration mechanism is used in its current form.