Ackerman v. The Money Store

In Ackerman v. The Money Store, 321 N.J. Super. 308, 311-12, 728 A.2d 873 (Law Div.1998) the court held that terminating plaintiff's employment because she refused to agree to compulsory arbitration of any discrimination claim violated the LAD. Amicus DCR reasons that "it follows that any such agreement extracted solely as a condition of employment was not 'voluntary.'" However, the court distinguished the cases that enforced agreements to arbitrate LAD claims because those cases required a waiver, and those courts determined that the employees' waivers were valid. Id. at 319-21, 728 A.2d 873. Thus, although "all employees are free to waive rights provided under the LAD and agree to arbitrate employment disputes," id. at 321, 728 A.2d 873, "waiver is not an issue here." Id. at 320, 728 A.2d 873.