Lorraine C. Brady, Appellant, v The Williams Capital Group, L.P., Respondent, et al., Respondent. Index 114198/06, 64 A.D.3d 127

Summary

The employee commenced an employment discrimination arbitration against the employer before the association, which cancelled the proceedings when the employer refused to pay the cost of arbitration as required by the association's rules. Such refusal was based on the employee manual, which required the parties to equally share the arbitrator's compensation. This suit followed. The appellate court held that to read into the arbitration agreement the association's rule that the employer paid the arbitrator's compensation would be to fundamentally modify the terms of the agreement and to force the employer to arbitrate in a manner contrary to the parties' agreement. However, the further issue was whether public policy precluded enforcing the fee-splitting provision because it imposed prohibitive costs on the employee. The employee, who had been unemployed for 18 months, met her burden of establishing that the arbitration fees were so high as to discourage her from vindicating her state ...