On September 27, 2018, the Kentucky Supreme Court issued an opinion that walked a fine line between upholding a state law ban on pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate employment disputes and acknowledging U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts state laws that interfere with or appear to discriminate against the enforcement of agreements to arbitrate.  Northern Kentucky Area Development District v. Synder (2017-SC-000277).

Basically, the Kentucky Supreme Court found that the state law did not single out arbitration for discriminatory treatment because it did not ban employers and employees from agreeing to arbitrate their disputes.  Rather, the court reasoned that the state law just made it illegal for an employer to condition employment on agreeing to arbitrate.

A good analysis of the decision can be found here on the Workplace Prof Blog.