Alexander Dubose Jefferson & Townsend LLP v. Vance

After Susan Vance (defendant) was fired, she filed suit against her employer, Alexander Dubose Jefferson & Townsend, LLP (Alexander) (plaintiff). Alexander sought to compel arbitration, citing the company policy that required all claims not settled through negotiation or mediation to be submitted for arbitration. Alexander had sent an email to its employees in October 2016 alerting employees to a new dispute-resolution program that could be viewed within the employee-handbook folder located on Alexander’s server. The new dispute-resolution program outlined the arbitration policy, but the email itself did not explain the substance of the program or mention arbitration. Vance argued that there was no valid arbitration agreement. Alexander argued that Vance had sufficient notice of the arbitration policy and had a duty to investigate the policy further after she received the email. Federal law favored arbitration agreements, and the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) permitted a party to compel arbitration if another party had failed to comply with the agreement. Under the FAA, a court assessed whether there was an agreement to arbitrate claims, which involved determining whether the arbitration agreement was valid and whether the claim was within the agreement’s scope. A court then determined whether any legal reason existed not to enforce the agreement. Texas law allowed enforcement of arbitration agreements if the employee was notified of the policy requiring arbitration and accepted the policy. An employee who kept working after notice of the policy accepted the policy as a matter of law. Notice could be express, or notice could be implied. A court evaluated whether an employee received express notice first, and if not, the court assessed whether the employee received implied notice. Notice was implied if an employee had a duty to investigate further. Such a duty related specifically to issues that were fairly suggested from the information actually communicated to the employee.