Ajamian

CantorC02e, L.P., and Joshua Margolis appeal from an order denying their petition to compel arbitration of respondent’s claims under the Federal Arbitration Act. ( 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16 .) They contend (1) the arbitration panel, rather than the court, should have decided whether the arbitration provision in respondent’s employment agreement was unconscionable; (2) respondent failed to establish that the arbitration provision was unconscionable, and any unconscionable portion of the provision should have been severed to permit the arbitration to proceed; and (3) alternatively, arbitration should have been compelled under the terms of an employee handbook.

We will affirm the order. Although the arbitration provision was broadly worded and indicated that arbitration might be conducted under the rules of an arbitration service that gives arbitrators the power to decide the validity of arbitration agreements, it did not provide clear and unmistakable evidence that the parties intended to delegate authority to the arbitrator, rather than to the court, to decide the threshold issue of whether the arbitration provision itself was unconscionable. The unconscionability issue was…