Abstract
This article portrays a long tradition of employment conciliation and arbitration in the legal predecessors of the Czech Republic. From the eve of the last century, there was also a variety of semi-judicial institutions established on the basis of particular provisions such as the Act on Works Councils, the Act on Home Work, the Trade Order, or special regulations in the mining industry and in the building trades (including enterprises engaged in manufacturing and transportation of building materials).
Giving the stated struggle to guarantee the right to a fair trial in employment disputes, we could return and combine the best of our legal tradition with recent developments of consumer protection in arbitration. There is no real obstacle for arbitration in labour law if each party will be entitled to a competent, neutral arbitrator and independent, neutral administration of the dispute; representation by an attorney or other representative at such party's expense; a fear of arbitration hearing; a face-to-face hearing; the right to present evidence and cross examine witnesses; a written explanation of the basis for the arbitrator's decision and the right to opt out of the binding arbitration and into the claims court in well-defined cases.