Broadly Worded Arbitration Agreement for Employment Claims Can Apply Retroactively

On March 25, 2019, a court of appeal published its decision in Salgado v. Carrows Restaurants, Inc., reversing a trial court’s order denying the employer’s motion to compel arbitration. The Salgado court held that the arbitration agreement the plaintiff had signed on December 7, 2016 was worded broadly enough to cover the employment related issues raised in the lawsuit she had filed in court on November 22, 2016. Rather than order the matter directly to arbitration, however, the Salgado court remanded the case to the trial court to determine whether the employer knew or should have known that the employee was represented by counsel when she signed the arbitration agreement, so it could make findings on the plaintiff’s claim that there were grounds for rescinding the arbitration agreement.