Guitar Center Responds to ‘Sign Arbitration or Lose Your Job’ Accusations

Last week, it was reported in a number of news outlets that Guitar Center had strong-armed employees into signing mandatory arbitration agreements or risk losing their jobs.

As the Huffington Post put it, “The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Huffington Post, forces employees to relinquish their rights to sue the company in class action lawsuits over wage violations, workplace discrimination and unjust firings, among other disputes.

Sean Lynch, a sales employee at the company’s Las Vegas store, said he and his colleagues were told they must sign the agreement by end of day Friday or they forfeit their jobs.”

On January 19th, in an exclusive response to MMR, GC reps stated: “In addition to the unique benefits that Guitar Center offers itsassociates, such as Gig leave and the GAIN (gear discount) program, we’ve made a variety of additional benefit enhancements and changes for 2016. These benefits include a 401(k) matching program, providing merit reviews for retail sales associates, providing sick pay to part-time associates and changing the retail pay cycle to provide more frequent and timely pay of base wages and commissions. Along with those benefits changes we implemented an arbitration program to create a more clearly defined and efficient resolution process for a variety of workplace disputes. While nearly all workplace disputes are able to be resolved internally, Guitar Center and many other companies believe that arbitration is more cost-effective for both parties, less formal and faster than the process available through the court system. Guitar Center’s program is similar to those found at many retailers and other employers, as well as in consumer service and product contracts.”

More updates as developments warrant.