Revising and Re-Papering Employment Arbitration Agreements: Management-Side Counseling for the New Age of Arbitration

Neil A. Eddington, Partner | K&L Gates LLP

Neil Eddington is a partner in K&L Gates’ Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety practice in Los Angeles, where his writing on arbitration traces the shift toward pro-arbitration outcomes in California and the Ninth Circuit and his caseload is built largely around the wage and hour disputes that arbitration agreements are drafted to route out of court.

• Education & Credentials

Eddington earned his J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2017 and his B.A. from the University of Washington in 2013. He is admitted to the Bar of California.

• Recognition & Leadership

Eddington has been recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for Los Angeles in Labor and Employment Law – Management, Litigation – Intellectual Property, and Litigation – Labor and Employment, each for 2026.

• Professional Involvement

As a certified law clerk in Pepperdine’s FINRA Investor Advocacy Clinic, Eddington represented investors in FINRA arbitrations. He authored “Uber Hitches a Ride with Arbitration: How Pro-Arbitration Attitudes and Uber Will Prevail in California and the Ninth Circuit” for the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal and wrote “A comprehensive audit is crucial for wage and hour compliance” for HR Dive, and he has been quoted in HR Dive on federal wage-hour enforcement. During law school he interned with a Charlotte-based NBA team, analyzing player contracts and salary-cap compliance, and he was an editor of the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal and a Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution certificate recipient. He now serves as a Pepperdine Law alumni mentor.

• Experience

Eddington’s caseload centers on wage and hour litigation, where he oversees single-plaintiff and collective actions — including class action and PAGA claims — alleging violations of regular rate of pay, overtime, and meal and rest break requirements. He also provides misclassification and exemption analyses, advises on reclassifying workers to reduce litigation risk, and performs wage and hour audits, often coordinating with management, HR, and finance on new payroll practices. His broader employment litigation practice includes restrictive covenant, wrongful termination, discrimination, pay equity, and breach of contract and fiduciary duty matters, along with internal workplace investigations.

Cassidy T. Stewart, Associate | K&L Gates LLP

Cassidy Stewart is an associate in K&L Gates’ Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety practice in Los Angeles, where her litigation practice centers on the single-plaintiff employment and wage and hour disputes that arbitration agreements are designed to resolve outside of court.

• Education & Credentials

Stewart earned her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2021 and her B.A. from the University of California, Irvine, in 2018. She is admitted to the Bar of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of California.

• Recognition & Leadership

Stewart graduated magna cum laude from Pepperdine Law, where she served as Note and Comment Editor of the Pepperdine Law Review. Prior to joining K&L Gates, she clerked for the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

• Professional Involvement

Stewart maintains an active pro bono practice on behalf of underrepresented communities, including recent advocacy for the right of sex trafficking victims to appear in a criminal proceeding under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. She has represented clients across industries including biomedical research and testing, banking and financial services, real estate, advertising and media, software design, concession services, and nonprofit organizations.

• Experience

Stewart’s litigation practice includes single-plaintiff employment disputes and wage and hour litigation, alongside commercial contract disputes and intellectual property matters. She has represented clients in claims for employment discrimination, wrongful termination, wage and hour violations, disputes over commission payments, breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, and patent infringement, carrying matters from analyzing and responding to demand letters through drafting and responding to complaints, written discovery and discovery-related motion practice, deposition preparation, mediation, and settlement negotiations. She has obtained summary judgment for clients and negotiated favorable settlements.

SESSION 1 – The Substance of Enforceable Arbitration Agreements: Unconscionability, Cook, and the EFAA | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session will focus on what arbitration agreements should say to survive a substantive challenge. It will also highlight language commonly included in arbitration agreements that should be avoided following several recent changes in law and court decisions. Cook v. University of Southern California will be examined, including both its practical implications and its influence on subsequent state and federal court decisions. This session will also discuss the benefits and drawbacks of explicitly incorporating the dispute resolution rules of arbitration service providers, including their mass arbitration provisions, and the impact of such provisions on delegation clauses. Finally, the session will conclude with a discussion of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA) and how the substantive terms of arbitration agreements should be modified to comply with its provisions.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Securing Formation and Administering the Program: Rickes, Hohenshelt, and Litigation Strategy | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session will focus on how to execute, document, and maintain arbitration agreements so they survives formation challenges and fee disputes, as well as how to use them strategically in litigation. It will include a discussion of Rickes v. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and its impact on rollout protocols for new arbitration agreements, as well as Hohenshelt v. Superior Court and what it means for employers who fail to timely pay arbitration fees. Finally, the session will review best practices for maintaining records related to arbitration agreements, including delivery and review confirmation, obtaining employee signatures, and how such practices can affect PAGA, class, and collective litigation.