Can an employer compel an employee to submit to binding arbitration?

Roman v. Superior Court (2009) 172 Cal.App.4th 1462 construed similar language, reaching the same conclusion. The arbitration clause in Roman had the employee undertake, essentially, this: " 'I agree, in the event I am hired by the company, that all disputes and claims that might arise out of my employment with the company will be submitted to binding arbitration.' " (Id. at p. 1466.) No mirror-image language specified what the employer was agreeing to, but the court nonetheless found that the agreement imposed bilateral obligations. "[T]he use of the 'I agree' language in an arbitration clause that expressly covers 'all disputes' creates a mutual agreement to arbitrate all claims arising out of the applicant's employment." (Ibid.) Because the employee's assent created an obligation that was mutual, the agreement was not substantively unconscionable. (Ibid.)