Arbitration agreement and class action waiver

You and Tree House Jobs, LLC, together with its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, successors, and assigns (“Tree House Jobs,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), mutually agree that any Dispute between you and Tree House Jobs will be resolved through final and binding individual arbitration, except as specifically provided in this Arbitration Agreement.

This Arbitration Agreement is intended to be broadly interpreted.

For purposes of this Agreement, a “Dispute” means any claim, controversy, or dispute arising out of or relating to:

your use of TreeHouseJobs.com or any Tree House Jobs service; your account; registration; job postings; job applications; resumes or candidate profiles; employer profiles; business listings; videos, photographs, documents, or other content; payments or charges; communications sent through or concerning the service; privacy or data security; accessibility; advertising or representations concerning the service; fraud or alleged scams; discrimination or alleged discrimination; suspension or termination of an account; these Terms of Use; or the relationship between you and Tree House Jobs.

A Dispute includes claims arising under contract, tort, statute, regulation, ordinance, common law, equity, or any other legal theory.

This Arbitration Agreement applies to claims asserted directly against Tree House Jobs as well as claims against a Tree House Jobs party described above when the claim arises from that person's or entity's relationship with Tree House Jobs.

This Agreement does not create an arbitration agreement between a job seeker and an employer. Tree House Jobs is not a party to disputes arising solely between employers and job seekers unless Tree House Jobs itself is separately named as a party to the dispute.

This Arbitration Agreement involves interstate commerce and is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), 9 U.S.C. §§ 1–16, including its rules concerning the interpretation and enforcement of arbitration agreements.

To the extent state law applies and is not preempted by the FAA, the laws of the State of Ohio will apply, without depriving an individual user of any non-waivable protections provided by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Before either party begins arbitration, the party asserting a Dispute must first provide the other party with an individual written Notice of Dispute and provide at least 30 days for the parties to attempt to resolve the matter informally.

A Notice sent to Tree House Jobs must be sent to:

Email: rankflv@gmail.com

and, if desired, by mail to:

Tree House Jobs, Attn: Legal / Arbitration Notice, 4465 Fulton Drive, Canton, Ohio 44718

The Notice should include the claimant's name, contact information, email address associated with the Tree House Jobs account if applicable, a description of the facts giving rise to the Dispute, and the relief requested.

Tree House Jobs will send any Notice of Dispute to the email address associated with the user's account or to another address the user has provided.

The parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the Dispute during the 30-day period.

Applicable limitation periods and filing deadlines will be tolled during this 30-day informal-resolution period to the extent permitted by law.

If the Dispute has not been resolved after 30 days, either party may begin arbitration.

Arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) before one neutral arbitrator.

For an individual using Tree House Jobs primarily as a job seeker or for personal purposes, the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures will apply if AAA determines those rules are applicable.

For an employer, business, recruiter, or other user using Tree House Jobs primarily for commercial purposes, the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures will apply unless AAA determines that another AAA rule set is applicable.

If a group of individual arbitration demands qualifies for treatment under the AAA Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules, those rules may also apply. Application of mass-arbitration administrative procedures does not convert individual arbitrations into a class, collective, consolidated, or representative arbitration.

The applicable AAA rules are available from the American Arbitration Association.

If AAA is unavailable or declines to administer a Dispute for reasons unrelated to a failure by Tree House Jobs to comply with AAA requirements, the parties will attempt to agree upon another nationally recognized arbitration provider. If they cannot agree, a court of competent jurisdiction may appoint an arbitrator or arbitration provider as permitted by law.

Tree House Jobs will not rely on AAA's refusal to administer an arbitration resulting from Tree House Jobs' failure to pay required fees or comply with applicable AAA consumer standards as a basis for avoiding arbitration.

For an individual user, arbitration may be conducted by telephone, videoconference, submission of documents, or in the county or comparable geographic area where the individual resides, as permitted by the applicable AAA rules and selected by the arbitrator after considering the parties' preferences.

An individual user will not be required to travel to Ohio solely to participate in an arbitration.

For business users, arbitration may be conducted remotely or in Stark County, Ohio, subject to the arbitrator's authority and the applicable AAA rules.

The parties may mutually agree to another location or method.

For individual users, the individual's arbitration filing fee will not exceed the amount the individual would be required to pay under the applicable AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules.

Tree House Jobs will pay all arbitration administration fees and arbitrator compensation that AAA rules or applicable law require the business to pay.

If applicable law requires Tree House Jobs to pay additional arbitration costs for this Arbitration Agreement to be enforceable, Tree House Jobs will pay those costs.

Each party will ordinarily be responsible for its own attorneys' fees and expenses unless applicable law permits or requires the arbitrator to award attorneys' fees or expenses to the prevailing party.

For business and commercial disputes, fees will be allocated according to the applicable AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules unless applicable law requires otherwise.

Nothing in this Agreement authorizes an award of fees or costs that applicable law prohibits.

Except for questions that applicable law requires a court to decide, the arbitrator will have authority to resolve disputes concerning the interpretation, scope, applicability, or enforceability of this Arbitration Agreement.

However, a court — not the arbitrator — will decide:

• whether an agreement to arbitrate was ever formed;

• whether a user validly opted out of arbitration;

• whether a later agreement superseded this Arbitration Agreement; and

• whether the Class Action Waiver below is enforceable.

The arbitrator may award the same individual remedies that would be available in court, including damages, statutory damages, declaratory relief, injunctive relief, and attorneys' fees where authorized by applicable law.

Nothing in this Arbitration Agreement eliminates or limits any substantive right or remedy that applicable law does not permit the parties to waive.

The arbitrator will issue a written decision explaining the essential findings and conclusions on which any award is based.

Judgment on an arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction.

The parties will be entitled to a reasonable exchange of non-privileged information relevant to the Dispute.

The arbitrator will determine the appropriate scope of discovery based on the needs and value of the case, the burden and expense involved, and the applicable AAA rules.

Nothing in this Agreement is intended to prevent a party from obtaining information reasonably necessary to present or defend a claim.

Notwithstanding this Arbitration Agreement, either you or Tree House Jobs may bring an individual action in small claims court if the claim qualifies for that court's jurisdiction.

An individual may bring such an action in a small claims court having lawful jurisdiction over the individual and the dispute.

If a small claims action is transferred, removed, or appealed to a court of general jurisdiction, either party may require that the Dispute be submitted to arbitration to the extent permitted by law.

Nothing in this Arbitration Agreement prevents you from reporting suspected violations of law to, filing a complaint with, or cooperating with a federal, state, or local government agency.

Nothing in this Agreement prevents a government agency from investigating or pursuing relief to the extent authorized by law.

Either party may seek temporary or emergency injunctive relief from a court of competent jurisdiction when reasonably necessary to prevent imminent unauthorized access to accounts or computer systems, misuse or disclosure of confidential information, infringement or misuse of intellectual property, unlawful scraping or harvesting of data, or other immediate and irreparable harm.

Seeking such temporary relief does not waive arbitration of the underlying Dispute.

If applicable federal, state, or local law prohibits arbitration of a particular claim or remedy, this Arbitration Agreement does not require arbitration of that claim or remedy to the extent arbitration is legally prohibited.

Any non-arbitrable claim should, to the extent permitted by law, be stayed until arbitration of the arbitrable claims has been completed.

You may reject this Arbitration Agreement without affecting your ability to use Tree House Jobs.

To opt out, you must send Tree House Jobs a written opt-out notice within 30 days after the date you first affirmatively accept this Arbitration Agreement.

The notice must state that you are opting out of the Tree House Jobs Arbitration Agreement and provide enough information to identify your account, including your name and the email address associated with the account.

Send the opt-out notice to:

Email: rankflv@gmail.com

or by mail to:

Tree House Jobs, Attn: Arbitration Opt-Out, 4465 Fulton Drive, Canton, Ohio 44718

Opting out of arbitration does not opt you out of the remaining Terms of Use.

Tree House Jobs will not retaliate against, restrict, or terminate a user's account solely because that user timely exercises the right to opt out.

An opt-out applies only to the person or business that submitted it.

Tree House Jobs will not materially modify this Arbitration Agreement in a manner that retroactively alters the arbitration rights applicable to a Dispute of which Tree House Jobs had actual written notice before the modification.

If Tree House Jobs makes a material change to this Arbitration Agreement, users will receive reasonable notice.

Where appropriate, Tree House Jobs may require users to affirmatively accept a materially revised Arbitration Agreement before continuing to use certain account services.

The version of the Arbitration Agreement that the parties validly accepted and that governs the particular Dispute will control.

Except as specifically provided concerning the Class Action Waiver, if any provision of this Arbitration Agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be severed or limited to the minimum extent necessary, and the remainder of the Arbitration Agreement will remain in effect.

If a court determines that the Class Action Waiver cannot lawfully be enforced with respect to a particular claim or remedy, that claim or remedy will proceed in court rather than in class arbitration, unless the parties expressly agree otherwise after the Dispute arises.

This Arbitration Agreement survives deletion or termination of an account, removal of a job posting or resume, cancellation of a paid service, termination of the Terms of Use, and cessation of use of Tree House Jobs.

This Arbitration Agreement applies equally to Tree House Jobs and to you.

Except for the limited exceptions expressly stated above, if Tree House Jobs would require you to arbitrate a particular type of claim, Tree House Jobs agrees to arbitrate that same type of claim against you.