Takeaway: When employees claimed they did not remember signing arbitration agreements but did not claim their handwritten signatures were forged or inauthentic, the employees were required to arbitrate their workplace claims.
Authenticating a handwritten signature on an arbitration agreement is easier than authenticating an electronic signature, a California appeals court recently said. The court found that the fact that employees claimed they did not remember signing the agreements was not enough to call their validity into question.
Three employees began working for an automobile dealership on separate dates in 2018 and 2019. They were fired in 2019. In 2021, they filed a joint complaint asserting 25 causes of action against the dealership, including claims for discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination. The employer filed a motion to compel each plaintiff to submit his claims to individual arbitration pursuant to arbitration agreements it said the employees had signed on their respective start dates.
The agreements state that any workplace dispute will be submitted to and resolved through final and binding arbitration. They end with an acknowledgment that the employee has read the agreement carefully and understands that it is voluntary and that they "can choose not to sign this agreement and still become or remain employed by the company," without retaliation.
Accompanying its motion to compel arbitration, the employer submitted a declaration...
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