Peng v. First Republic Bank: Failure to Provide AAA Arbitration Rules to Employee Does Not Render Arbitration Policy Unconscionable

In Peng v. First Republic Bank (8/29/13, pub. 9/26/13), --- Cal.App.4th ---, the trial court denied an employer defendant's petition to compel arbitration in an action alleging discrimination and related claims. The Court of Appeal reversed, holding: 

Failure to attach the AAA arbitration rules to the arbitration policy, by itself, did not render the policy procedurally unconscionable. Slip op. at 6-9.

A provision in the policy allowing the employer to modify it unilaterally was not substantively unconscionable. Slip op. at 10-12. Because the covenant of good faith and fair dealing limits an employer's right to modify an arbitration policy, such a right is not "so one-sided as to 'shock the conscience.'" Slip op. at 12. 

Peng v. First Republic Bank is available here.