In 2024 and 2025, the American Arbitration Association® (AAA) undertook a significant effort to revise our Consumer Arbitration Rules (Consumer Rules) and Employment/Workplace Arbitration Rules (Employment Rules). Our goal was to modernize and clarify the rules while maintaining transparency, fairness, efficiency and accessibility – essential hallmarks of the AAA consumer and employment arbitration process. Although the team didn’t revise every rule, they updated most of them in some way and reorganized several to create a more logical and uniform flow.

Categories of Change

Changes to the rules generally fall into one of three broad categories: 

1. Administrative
2. Procedural 
3. Arbitrator Authority

Administrative Changes

The “Employment/Workplace Arbitration Rules” (formerly, the “Employment Arbitration Rules”) now apply to all workplace and work-related disputes, including those involving independent contractor agreements. Previously, only the fee schedule applied to independent contractor cases where the agreement named a different set of rules.

Both sets of rules now have more straightforward guidelines outlining when the AAA may decline or cease the administration of a case.
The Consumer Arbitration Rules now include clarified procedures for registering a consumer clause with the AAA’s Consumer Clause Registry. They also state that the AAA may decline to administer future cases if a business fails to pay the required administrative or arbitrator fees.

Procedural Changes

Automatic Stay Process

We have adjusted the stay period when a party seeks judicial intervention at the outset of a case. The stay now lasts 90 days—up from 30 in consumer and 60 in employment cases—giving courts more time to issue rulings before arbitration proceeds.

Case Consolidation

The AAA can now administratively consolidate multiple cases filed by the same party asserting different claims under the same contract.

Virtual Hearings

In response to the shift to remote proceedings during the pandemic, virtual hearings are now the default. However, parties can agree to their preferred hearing format, or the arbitrator can decide any disputes regarding format. Notably, we removed the proposed requirement that an arbitrator must deem an in-person hearing “necessary” for a fundamentally fair process, based on public feedback.

Documents-Only Threshold

Following public comments, we decided not to adopt the initial proposal to raise the documents-only procedure threshold from $25,000 to $50,000 in consumer cases.

Both rule sets now include clarified procedures for counsel to withdraw from a case, and the “Arbitration Management Conference” has been renamed the “Preliminary Hearing,” with the Employment Rules adopting a set of Preliminary Hearing Procedures.

In the Consumer Rules, we specified the timeframe for objecting to a locale, indicated that the AAA may reach out to parties individually, clarified deposit procedures and added a new rule regarding the appeals process for those consumer clauses that include an appeals provision.
Notably, the Consumer Rules now also contain Mediation Procedures. We designed these procedures to streamline the mediation process, increase accessibility and reduce costs:
 
•    No filing fee if an arbitration has already been filed
•    Fixed-rate compensation for the mediator ($300/hour)
•    All mediations are held virtually unless the parties agree otherwise 
•    The mediator may decide to limit or forego pre-mediation statements
•    Procedures are written with accessibility as a key feature

Arbitrator Authority

We commonly see disputes between parties regarding which arbitration agreement applies. Our proposed revisions initially indicated that we would apply the contract supplied by the filing party if that issue were in dispute. Based on the feedback we received, the Consumer and Employment Rules both now specify that the AAA will first consider the parties’ comments and make an administrative determination, subject to a final determination by the arbitrator. 

We also reworked the rules regarding information exchange to protect a party's ability to present their claims and defenses. Arbitrators are now also authorized under both rule sets to issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents and to order depositions. Additionally, they may now modify or clarify an award on their own initiative, or the parties may request clarification or modification. If the arbitrator needs time after the hearing to determine whether hearings should be closed, the rules now allow the arbitrator up to seven days to make that decision. We also revised the rules governing decisions on motions, including dispositive motions.

Both rule sets also added a new rule regarding confidentiality. This rule pertains to the arbitrator’s role in deciding disputes about confidentiality. The AAA publishes consumer and employment awards in a redacted format (the party names are redacted, but the arbitrator’s name is not), and we publish quarterly information on our consumer and employment caseloads on our website: www.adr.org/consumer.

Changes specific to the Employment Rules include a new rule specifying the arbitrator’s enforcement powers and revised Emergency Measures of Protection, which have now been codified within the rules. In the Consumer Rules, we revised the procedures for disputes about whether a claim should be withdrawn to small claims court. Where the parties disagree on this issue, it is now for an arbitrator to decide. The AAA will no longer make an administrative determination on this issue. Additionally, we have added a rule allowing arbitrators to impose sanctions against a party.

Thank you for your feedback

The AAA’s updates to our Consumer and Employment Arbitration Rules reflect our continued commitment to maintaining a fair and efficient arbitration process. With these revisions, our rules evolve alongside the needs of the parties we serve. We are grateful to the many stakeholders who provided feedback throughout this process, helping us shape practical and principled rules.