Recommended Citation
Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Disrupting Adhesion Contracts with #MeToo Innovators, 26 Va J. Soc. Pol’y & L. 165 (2019), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/860
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Adhesion contracts are everywhere. Take it or leave it, the dominant party holds the leverage while the weaker party adheres. Ninety percent of employment contracts contain mandatory arbitration clauses, and attempts to challenge arbitration requirements meet with judicial indifference or hostility. Ultimately, arbitration clauses eviscerate the employee's right to a jury trial and access to the court system in general. In recent years, employers in the tech sector have faced unexpected resistance from innovators. Just as innovators are known for disrupting old business models through technological innovations, #MeToo reformers are disrupting the seemingly insurmountable adhesion contract regime. They organize, protest, demand, and seize back their constitutional and substantive rights. Leveraging their talent capital power in the tech sector, the innovators achieve results. Their efforts have led to businesses removing their arbitration clauses, as these pioneers regain their rights without relying on the conventional contract theory of unconscionability.