Here’s a recent arbitration case that will interest employers with Spanish-speaking employees. In Delfingen US-Texas L.P. v Valenzuela, the employee sued the employer for workers’ compensation retaliation. Because the employee had signed an arbitration agreement, the employer filed a motion to compel arbitration. Arguing that the arbitration agreement was procedurally unconscionable, the employee presented evidence that though the employer knew that she speaks only Spanish, it required her to sign an arbitration agreement written in English without translating it or even telling her what she was signing. The company, of course, presented contrary evidence—that, in fact, it had explained the arbitration agreement to her in Spanish.

The trial court denied the employer’s motion to compel arbitration, and the El Paso court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s order, finding the arbitration agreement procedurally unconscionable.

In a point that will interest only appellate lawyers and possibly the Texas Supreme Court, the court of appeals applied an abuse of discretion standard to the trial court’s ruling, declining to follow its own prior decisions.

Moral of the story for employers? If you have Spanish-speaking employees, do not leave your case to the unpredictable winds of he-said, she-said or the standard of review applied by the appellate court: make the arbitration agreement available in Spanish for all to see.