By: Paul J. Leaf and Kyle Winnick
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Rocha v. U-Haul Co. of Cal., the California Court of Appeal held that a plaintiff asserting a PAGA claim does not have standing to pursue a PAGA claim on behalf of others, if an arbitrator denies the plaintiff’s individual claims on the merits and finds no underlying Labor Code
Continue Reading Adverse Adjudication on the Merits Deprives Plaintiffs of PAGA StandingBy: John P. Phillips
Seyfarth Synopsis: Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, many employers have seen an uptick in plaintiffs seeking to avoid arbitration by arguing that they are transportation workers and thus not subject to the Federal Arbitration Act. But as the subsequent history in the Saxon decision makes clear, employers can—and
Continue Reading State Law Can Serve as a Backstop to the Federal Arbitration ActBy: Sage Fishelman and Josh Rodine
Seyfarth Synopsis: A divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel has ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts California Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51), which purports to prohibit employers from requiring job applicants and workers from signing arbitration pacts. The panel further concluded that AB 51’s criminal penalties are preempted by the FAA.
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Rehearing Suggests a FAArewell to California’s Arbitration ProhibitionBy: Andrew Scroggins & Nicolas Lussier
Seyfarth Synopsis: Couriers who transport goods from restaurants and grocers who have connected to consumers via the Postmates app are not “engaged in foreign or interstate commerce,” according to a recent decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals. As a result, the couriers don’t satisfy the “transportation worker” exception to the
Continue Reading First Circuit Delivers Win To Companies Hungry To Enforce Mutual Arbitration Agreements With Couriers Who Rarely Cross State LinesBy: Julia Keenan and Noah Finkel
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court held that no showing of prejudice is necessary to establish a waiver of the right to arbitrate. The validity and enforceability of arbitration agreements themselves is not affected by this ruling.
Followers of this blog, and of wage and hour litigation generally, have seen an unbroken string of victories
Continue Reading Prejudice will no longer be considered when deciding if a waiver of arbitration occurred; Not to worry, arbitration clauses still as enforceable as ever
By Lennon B. Haas, Kyle Petersen, and Kevin M. Young
Seyfarth Synopsis: Though it may sound esoteric, the question of whether “last mile” drivers fall within the Federal Arbitration Act’s transportation worker exemption bears tremendous consequence. If they are exempt, they can’t be compelled to arbitrate under the FAA. If they are not exempt, the answer reverses. In
Continue Reading Eleventh Circuit Clears the Road to Arbitration for Last-Mile Drivers
Authored by Andrew L. Scroggins, Noah A. Finkel, and David S. Baffa
Seyfarth Synopsis: The NLRB has withdrawn the significant concession it offered at oral argument on the nature of the NLRA rights it seeks to assert in the face of employers’ mandatory arbitration programs.
As noted in our earlier blog post, the Supreme Court heard oral
Continue Reading NLRB About-Face Highlights Lack of Reasoning on the Class Action “Right” It Seeks to Assert
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 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
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