NLRB Challenges Dish Arbitration Agreement Terms Before 5th Circuit

Reasonable reading of Dish Network's employee arbitration agreement would find it restricts employees' rights to file charges with the National Labor Relations Board, the NLRB said in a docket 17-60368 appellee brief (in Pacer) filed Friday with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Dish is appealing an April NLRB order that its arbitration agreement's confidentiality provision violates the National Labor Relations Act (see 1709250001). The NLRB in its brief also said Dish's desire to protect personal information that comes up in an arbitration proceeding could be handled with a narrower rule than its requirement everything in those proceedings be confidential. And it said Dish's claim it wanted to prevent rumors didn't outweigh the interference with a disciplined employee's right to discuss that discipline. Dish didn't comment Friday.