The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision in Sandler v. Modernizing Medicine, Inc. holds that, in employment arbitration agreements governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), a properly drafted delegation clause (appointing an arbitrator, not a judge, to decide challenges to the agreement’s validity) will be upheld. The decision states that it is legal error to rely on California appellate decisions that apply state law to treat boilerplate severability clauses as sufficient to strip a clear delegation provision of its power.

In Sandler, the employee brought ...