Court Holds Sexual Assault Claims Are Not Arbitrable As They “Exist Independent Of The Employment Relationship”

In Crider v. GMRI, Inc., the Ohio Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s determination that an employee’s claims arising from and relating to sexual assault by a co-worker fell outside the scope of an arguably broadly worded arbitration provision. Relying on precedent, the court held that the employee’s claims “relating to and arising from the sexual assault exist independent of the employment relationship because they may be ‘maintained without reference to the contract or relationship at issue,'” and that “ongoing verbal and physical contact culminating in sexual assault as well as retaliation, harassment, or other detrimental acts against [plaintiff] based on the unlawful conduct is not a foreseeable result of the employment.”