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The Metastasization of Mandatory Arbitration
Get PDFMandatory arbitration procedures have expanded to become a common feature of American employment relations. This article presents the results of a new original survey examining the extent of mandatory arbitration, where it is most commonly used, and which employees it is most likely to affect. Overall, 53.9 percent of private sector business establishments, representing 56.2 percent of nonunion employees, have mandatory arbitration procedures. Larger employers are more likely to have adopted mandatory arbitration, as are workplaces with lower paid employees. Mandatory arbitration is particularly common in California, North Carolina, and Texas, but is widespread nationwide. Class action waivers are included in the mandatory arbitration agreements of 41.1 percent of the employees covered by these procedures. Some 39.5 percent of the mandatory arbitration procedures were adopted within the last five years, indicating that there has been a rapid recent growth in this practice. These findings indicate a metastasization of mandatory arbitration, where it has now replaced litigation as the most common method of enforcement of employment rights for nonunion employees, with potential major negative consequences for workers
Path to Destruction: Cook County\u27s Property Tax System is a Cause for Concern as it Mimics the Defunct Taxing Procedures that Led to the Detroit Foreclosure Crisis
Get PDFFor decades, Cook County, Illinois, has had one of the highest property tax rates in the country, and as a result the County has begun to experience unprecedented foreclosure rates which has contributed, in part, to the State’s significant population decline. Residents are forced to endure a property tax system that disproportionately burdens low-income homeowners, while providing tax breaks to higher-income individuals and commercial owners. The primary causes and characteristics of Cook County’s defunct property tax system are strikingly similar to those that sent the City of Detroit spiraling into bankruptcy in 2013.
This note provides a comparative analysis of the economic, societal, and political factors that led to the Detroit Foreclosure Crisis and how these same factors are prevalent in modern-day Cook County. Along with the various causes behind Cook County’s defective property tax system, this note explores the detrimental effects that the excessive property taxes have on low-income residents, particularly within the impoverished communities on the South Side of Chicago. Ultimately, significant changes to the property tax system are necessary to prevent Cook County from suffering the same fate as Detroit
