Drill Rig Worker May Face Out-of-State Arbitration

A former Nomac Drilling LLC employee in Pennsylvania didn’t show that an employment arbitration agreement designating Oklahoma City as the place of arbitration is unenforceable, a federal judge ruled March 28 (Schrock v. Nomac Drilling, LLC, 2016 BL 96013, W.D. Pa., 2:15-cv-1692, 3/28/16).

Eli A. Schrock, who worked on drill rig sites in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, argued that the arbitration agreement was unenforceable because he “has never set foot in Oklahoma,” all witnesses in the case live in Pennsylvania, and the cost for him to arbitrate in Oklahoma would be prohibitively expensive.

Alternatively, he argued ...