Litigation of employment discrimination claims generates several enforcement mechanisms that are integral to securing the end of workplace discrimination. First judicial decisions, which speak with the authority of the state, provide general deterrence of future violators. Second, the courts develop and refine the law of employment discrimination, establish precedents, and define a uniform standard. Finally, the judicial process educates the community and forms public values, a crucial undertaking when a law seeks to change public sentiment. Arbitration, because it is a nongovernmental, confidential, and final forum, does not generate these enforcement mechanisms; thus, it is less effective in achieving the public policy objective.

Source: Geraldine Szott Moohr. Arbitration and the Goals of Employment Discrimination Law. 56 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 395, 400 1999.