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
Authored by Andrew Scroggins
As expected, the Fifth Circuit once again has rejected the NLRB’s highly controversial position that the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) prohibits employers from requiring mandatory arbitration agreements that preclude employees from filing class or collective claims in any forum.
The Fifth Circuit first took up the issue nearly two years ago, when it set
Continue Reading Fifth Circuit Stands Pat, Again Rejects NLRB Attempt to Void Class and Collective Action Waiver
Co-authored by Tim Rusche and Adam Vergne
Sound advice that the world has lived with since 1512…until recently flushed by the Ninth Circuit. Not so quick to discard 500 years of wisdom, however, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether this idiom will rest in peace or be given new life. It recently accepted review of Zaborowski v. Managed
Continue Reading Don’t Throw the Class Waiver Baby Out With the Arbitration Agreement Bathwater
Authored by Emily Barker
This week, in Sakkab, et al v. Luxottica Retail North America, Inc., the Ninth Circuit ruled that an employee cannot waive the right to bring a representative action under the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) through an arbitration agreement or any other means. In so doing, it found the California Supreme Court’s “Iskanian
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit’s Pro-PAGA Decision Is Not the Death Knell for Class Waivers in Arbitration Agreements