A Washington federal district court has held that it is without the authority to order an employer to bear all costs in contractual arbitration, and therefore had no power to lift its prior order compelling arbitration even if the employer refused to bear all costs.

In Yapuna v. Global Horizons Manpower Inc., No. CV-06-3048-RHW, 2008 WL 4911905 (E.D. Wash. Nov. 14, 2008), employee Yapuna brought a putative class action complaint against employment agency Global and employers Green Acres and Valley Fruit. The Court compelled arbitration of the plaintiff's claims against Global in accordance with an arbitration agreement between the parties. However, the plaintiffs then petitioned the Court for an order compelling Global to either pay all costs of the arbitration or lift the stay of proceedings and allow litigation.

The Court rejected the plaintiff's petition, finding that the agreement was silent on the issue of arbitration costs. The Court noted that the agreement clearly gave the plaintiffs the right to seek redress of their complaints against Global in arbitration, but it did not require Global to pay all costs of the arbitration just because plaintiffs alleged an inability to pay. Furthermore, the Court found it had no authority to order either party to bear particular costs during arbitral proceedings, and, accordingly, no authority to lift a stay should Global refuse to bear all costs.