Employment lawyers push bill to bar mandatory pre-dispute waivers in hiring contracts

Philip Gordon, past president of the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association, told the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development that employers increasingly require new hires to sign clauses that waive the protections of Massachusetts law before any dispute arises.

“These are abusive waivers that people sign when they first come to first get their jobs,” Gordon said. He described common practices where job applicants click to accept terms on a mobile device and surrender rights to state protections, including discrimination claims, bereavement protections and other employment-law remedies.

Gordon testified that S 13-35 and H 21-14 would limit pre-dispute waivers and protect employees from being forced prospectively to give up statutory protections as a condition of employment. “After a dispute happens, you want to sit down with your employer, you've been harassed, or you want to discuss an accommodation, you want to sign a waiver then, go right ahead,” he said. “But it's the pre-dispute waivers before a dispute happens. Look. After a dispute happens, you shouldn't be waiving your rights to the laws that protect you.”

Committee members asked follow-up questions about whether the practice is more common with remote hiring; Gordon said remote and online hiring have increased the frequency of these waivers. The hearing included no committee votes on the bills.