Palacios

FACTS

Palacios went to work for Erewhon in 2018. About two or three weeks after she started, her supervisor told her she had to sign some documents in order to receive her paycheck. Palacios was taken to a computer, and her supervisor told her to type certain information into the computer (her name, date of birth, and social security number) at places indicated by the supervisor. The document was in English and no one explained its content to Palacios.

After this lawsuit was filed, Palacios’ attorneys asked for a copy of Palacios’ personnel file. In response, Erewhon produced a file that included an arbitration agreement electronically signed

2 by Palacios’ supervisor, but not signed by Palacios. Erewhon did not produce any documents in Spanish.

Erewhon moved to compel arbitration. In support of its motion, Erewhon submitted the declaration of Michael Holmes (Modern HR’s vice president of human resources and business development) describing his familiarity with Modern HR’s online onboarding system for new hires and stating that Erewhon asks its new hires to sign “Erewhon’s Agreement to be Bound by Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy,” which Holmes defines as the “Arbitration…