AAA Revises Consumer and Employment/Workplace Arbitration Rules

The American Arbitration Association (AAA) announced new Consumer Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures and Employment/Workplace Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures, effective May 1, 2025. AAA stated that its revisions “are anchored in the AAA’s values of fairness, efficiency, and transparency in arbitration” by setting forth “a more streamlined process that reduces time and cost, with clearer language and more explicitly defined responsibilities for all parties.” In addition to retitling both rule sets, formerly known as the “Consumer Arbitration Rules” and “Employment Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures” as further explained below, AAA has implemented the following key changes.

• Incorporated Consumer Mediation Procedures (consumer rules only). AAA has revised its prior Consumer Arbitration Rules to expressly incorporate its Consumer Mediation Procedures, newly launched on April 1, 2025. Those mediation rules are now integrated into the retitled Consumer Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures, which AAA explained “are designed to increase the accessibility and cost-effectiveness of mediation, offering consumers and businesses a streamlined path to resolution.”
• Applicability to All Workplace and Work-Related Disputes (employment rules only). As reflected in its retitling of the former Employment Arbitration Rules to “Employment/Workplace Arbitration Rules,” the AAA has broadened their application to “any dispute between an independent contractor (working or performing as an individual and not incorporated) and a business or organization when the dispute involves work or work-related claims under independent contractor agreements, including any statutory claims.”
• Claims Consolidation (both rules). Under the revised consumer rules and employment rules, AAA can now “administer multiple claims filed by the same party arising out of the same contract as a single case.” AAA can also “require that multiple claims filed by the same party arising out of separate contracts be filed and administered as individual cases.” AAA’s exercise of discretion under these rules is “subject to the final determination of an arbitrator once appointed.”
• Virtual Hearings (both rules). The prior rules allowed AAA to initially determine the location of the arbitration if an in-person hearing were to be held and the parties could not agree on the location, with no presumption of virtual hearings. AAA has modified its consumer rules and employment rules to now provide for virtual hearings as the default or “by other means as approved by the arbitrator unless agreed to by the parties” or if, upon a party’s application, the arbitrator decides an in-person hearing is required.
• Arbitrators’ Authority to Manage Arbitration and Information Exchanges (both rules). AAA amended its consumer rules and employment rules to provide arbitrators broader authority in managing the arbitration process. For example, observing that disputes about which arbitration agreement applies are common, AAA revised the rules to provide that “[i]f the respondent alleges that a different arbitration provision is controlling, the AAA will make an initial administrative determination regarding the controlling arbitration provision, subject to a final determination by the arbitrator.” AAA further clarifies in the revised rules that it may in its sole discretion make the administrative determination to decline acceptance of an arbitration demand or to stop administration of an ongoing arbitration under certain specified circumstances. The new rules also set forth procedures for the parties’ exchange of information. Under the revised rules, the arbitrator is authorized to “manage any necessary exchange of information among the parties,” with the goal of “achieving an efficient and economic resolution of the dispute” while also “promoting equality of treatment and safeguarding each party’s opportunity to fairly present its claims and defenses.” Specifically, parties may be required to exchange information on the arbitrator’s own initiative or upon a party’s application, and to do so in a format and through procedures specified by the arbitrator. The arbitrator is also authorized to subpoena witnesses and documents and to issue sanctions for a party’s failure to comply with its obligations under the rules or with an arbitrator’s order.
• Revised Emergency Measures of Protection (employment rules only). AAA’s revisions to its employment rules now include the express incorporation of its amended Emergency Measures of Protection, previously presented as optional. The Emergency Measures of Protection now allow a party to request emergency measures of protection “only if the parties either agree post-dispute . . . or have included a provision in their arbitration agreement” that allows for them. The revised rules also modify the procedures for obtaining emergency relief and their related timing.
• New Appeals Process (consumer rules only). The revised consumer rules include a new rule for appeals where the underlying consumer arbitration agreement provides for the appeal of an arbitration award. In those circumstances, “AAA will administer the appellate arbitration process only if it complies with the Consumer Due Process Protocol and the filing fees and arbitrator compensation in connection with the appellate arbitration process are borne and allocated in accordance with the Consumer Arbitration Fee Schedule.”

AAA’s amended rules present comprehensive changes affecting AAA-administered arbitrations, and businesses with consumer or employment arbitration agreements should weigh these amendments in the election of an arbitration provider.