JP Morgan Chase Bank is trying to stop seven former employees from going forward with a nationwide collective action lawsuit that alleges bank employees are forced to work off the clock. The employees signed arbitration agreements as part of their jobs, which included a promise not to join any collective action lawsuits, according to a petition that JP Morgan Chase filed this week in federal court in Houston.

The employees agreed to settle individual claims through arbitration, a confidential and increasingly common process that keeps employees from spilling corporate secrets in a public courtroom. The employees asked the arbitration service to allow them to participate in the collective action, citing their rights under a federal labor relations law that allows employees to join together to improve their wages and working conditions, according to the bank’s petition to the court. The Houston Chronicle has full details.

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