Pulli

I.

INTRODUCTION

Kyle Pulli filed this action against his former employer, appellant Pony International, LLC (Pony); two entities that allegedly established Pony, Symphony Holdings, Inc. (Symphony), and Infinity Associates, Inc. (Infinity); and an employment recruiting firm, Bialla and Associates, Inc. (Bialla). In his complaint, Pulli alleged that defendants fraudulently induced him to enter into an employment agreement with Pony, and that Pony wrongfully terminated his employment.

Pony filed a motion to compel arbitration in which it argued that all of Pulli’s claims against it were subject to an arbitration provision in Pulli’s employment agreement. Pulli filed an opposition in which he contended, among other claims, that the employment agreement was unenforceable pursuant to Labor Code section 206.5, 1 which prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to execute “a release of a claim or right on account of wages due . . . .” The trial court denied Pony’s motion to compel, concluding that the employment agreement was void under section 206.5 and that the arbitration provision contained in the employment agreement was therefore unenforceable.

*1511 On appeal,…