Arbitration Gag Orders Called a Threat to Labor Law Enforcement

The U.S. Labor Department told the National Labor Relations Board that confidentiality provisions like the type the board allows in arbitration agreements can silence workers and undermine the complaint-based system of workplace law enforcement.

The Labor Department called workplace gag orders a “direct threat” to its ability to enforce employment laws. It did so in response to the NLRB’s call for feedback on its reconsideration of a pair of Trump-era precedents on arbitration agreements. The deadline for briefs was Monday, but only a handful of filings were publicly available as of Tuesday.

Despite that critique and unlike other briefs, the ...