Sanchez

I.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff and Respondent, Araceli Sanchez, sued her employer, Defendant and

Appellant, JFK Memorial Hospital, Inc. (JFK), and her supervisor, Jose Pecero, for

various claims related to her employment. In response, defendants petitioned to compel

arbitration of her claims. The trial court denied the petition because the parties’

arbitration agreement’s prearbitration dispute resolution process is unconscionable and

not severable. We reverse.

II.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

JFK hired Sanchez in 2015. As part of her onboarding, Sanchez electronically 1 signed JFK’s “Handbook and Fair Treatment Process Acknowledgement.” The

Acknowledgement provides in relevant part: “Except to the extent that any applicable

collective bargaining agreement provides otherwise, I hereby voluntarily agree to use the

Company’s Fair Treatment Process [(FTP)] and to submit to final and binding arbitration

any and all claims and disputes that are related in any way to my employment or the

termination of my employment” with JFK.

1 JFK is a part of Tenet Healthcare. All of Sanchez’s employment documents refer to “Tenet” instead of JFK, but there is no material difference…