Companies, Workers Come to Terms through Arbitration.(Originated from The Orange County Register, Calif.)

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, October, 1997 by Himmelberg, Michele

Oct. 5--Joyce Walker and 12 former employees of Aetna-U.S. Healthcare learned all about employment agreements the hard way. They were asked to sign a no-compete clause; they balked and were fired.

Now the Southern California workers have sued the company, claiming the covenant was illegal and, therefore, their terminations violated public policy. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also alleges age discrimination since most of those fired were older than 40.

"It was a very scary thing because we were veteran employees and we were being asked to give up our rights," said Walker, who sold health insurance to the elderly.

She refused to agree that, if she left the company, she wouldn't work for a competitor for 12 months....

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