"It's Deadline Time at Morgan Stanley to Keep Your Right to Sue", 2 Oct 2015

Morgan Stanley is asking employees to give up their right to sue the firm in class actions for civil rights violations including discrimination based on race, gender or age, according to a former employee’s lawsuit. The firm sent an e-mail to workers last month saying it’s expanding its employment dispute resolution program, according to the complaint by former Morgan Stanley financial adviser Kathy Frazier…Jim Wiggins, the spokesman for…[the firm] said…that the arbitration program “benefits all parties by offering an impartial, confidential, cost effective and timely mechanism for resolving employment disputes."…Arbitration cases often are heard by lawyers or industry veterans in private, rather than in court by a judge or jury. That distinction is especially important for women and minority employees, because "they won’t get a jury of their peers anymore," Bish [a partner at Stowell & Friedman] said…The privacy of arbitration also means the public may never learn of a case unless court approval is required…