Public Storage Can’t Require Worker to Arbitrate Bias Claims

A Public Storage call center sales agent can pursue her sexual harassment and related claims in court because an arbitration agreement she supposedly signed is invalid, a California appeals court ruled.

The self-storage giant failed to show Rachel Gilgar actually signed and accepted the arbitration pact included in the new employee orientation package she received when she was hired in 2016, the California Court of Appeal said Feb. 20. The company said Gilgar signed the arbitration pact and a related acknowledgment form electronically.

It’s possible for an electronic signature to form a binding promise to arbitrate, Justice Nora M. Manella ...