Arbitrating Employment Disputes: Pro and Con
I prepared a Proprietary Information and Invention Agreement (“PIIA”) to be signed by the employees of a small but established technology company in the Bay Area. The PIIA ensures that the company owns whatever employees create on the job, and it obligates employees not to disclose the company’s proprietary information to third parties.
The client pointed out, however, a conflict between the PIIA and the existing Employee Handbook: The PIIA states that any dispute will be resolved in state or federal court in San Francisco, but the Handbook states that all employment disputes will be subject to arbitration. The client asked me how this conflict should be resolved.
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