Authored by Holger G. Besch
Perhaps signaling the importance of the issue for American businesses and jurisprudence, the U.S. Supreme Court chose the first day of its term beginning in October as the date to set oral arguments in three petitions for certiorari asking whether employees can be required to waive their rights via arbitration agreements to file class and
Continue Reading SCOTUS Puts the Class Action Waiver Issue at the Top of Its Agenda
Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Howard M. Wexler
Seyfarth Synopsis: A New York intermediate appellate court with jurisdiction over Manhattan weighed in on the enforceability of arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers. Its decision, issued on July 18, 2017, holds that waivers are unenforceable as they interfere with employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act
Continue Reading New York Appellate Court Strikes Down Class Action Waivers
Co-authored by Noah Finkel and Andrew Scroggins
Employers have faced questions about the enforceability of arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers since the NLRB’s highly controversial D.R. Horton decision in 2012, which held that the waivers violate employees’ right to engage in protected concerted activity. The Fifth Circuit refused to enforce the decision, and other courts followed
Continue Reading Mandatory Arbitration, Class Waivers, and the Future of Wage-Hour Litigation: 6th Circuit Shows One Reason Why High Court Rejection of D.R. Horton Theory Would Not Kill Collective Actions
Authored by Kiran A. Seldon
Seyfarth Synopsis: Three decisions issued earlier this month reveal an increasing tension between the Ninth Circuit and California appellate courts on whether representative PAGA actions can be arbitrated. As a result, employers wishing to compel arbitration of representative PAGA claims are likely to be better off in federal court than in state court.
Co-authored by David D. Kadue and Rocio Herrera
Seyfarth Synopsis: A California appellate court has held that unless a collective bargaining agreement includes an explicitly stated, clear, and unmistakable intent to waive the right to a judicial forum for statutory claims, arbitration of those claims will not be compelled. The CBA in the case, Vasserman v. Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial
Continue Reading CBAs Must Specifically State Intent to Arbitrate Statutory Rights
Authored by Robert J. Carty, Jr.
As our regular readers already know, the Supreme Court is poised to decide one of the most contentious issues facing the wage-and-hour world—namely, whether class- and collective-action waivers render workplace arbitration agreements unenforceable.
Well, it seemed poised until today. Now we need to sit tight until at least October.
First, a quick recap. A
Continue Reading Supreme Court to Hear Class-Action Waiver Arguments in its October 2017 Term
Co-authored by David S. Baffa, Candice T. Zee, and Alexius Cruz O’Malley
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether workplace arbitration agreements containing class and collective action waivers are enforceable under the FAA, notwithstanding the provisions of the NLRA.
Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court granted and consolidated three petitions for certiorari,
Continue Reading Supreme Court Agrees to Rule on Legality of Class Action Waivers
Authored by Simon L. Yang
Seyfarth Synopsis: When the California Supreme Court said no to PAGA waivers in its 2014 Iskanian ruling, we asked whether employers would boldly go where few have gone before and implement arbitration agreements requiring arbitration of PAGA claims. A recent California Court of Appeal decision issued in Perez v. U-Haul Company of California warrants revisiting
Continue Reading Agree to Arbitrate Representative Issues Much?
Authored by Alex Passantino
‘Twas the week before Christmas, 2-0-1-5
When the poetry elves on the blog came alive.
Crafting their rhymes with a purpose so clear:
Presenting the wage-hour gems of the year.
In January, for new regs in this year our breath bated.
Then for six painful months, we speculated and waited.
And just as
Continue Reading I’m Dreaming of a White Collar: 2015 Year in Review
Authored by Simon L. Yang
As discussed by our Consumer Class Defense Blog, this week’s Supreme Court decision in DirecTV, Inc. v. Imburgia reversed a California Court of Appeal that had applied the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act’s prohibition of class waivers in arbitration agreements. According to the lower court’s decision, an arbitration agreement’s terms—directing application of the “law
Continue Reading Supreme Court Airs Re-Run on Class Waivers in DirecTV But Disappoints Again by Declining PAGA Waiver Programming