Earlier this year, we blogged about the United States Supreme Court’s decision to consider whether requiring employees to agree to arbitration and a waiver of their rights to assert claims through class actions violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). During the Obama administration, the U.S. Department of Justice supported…
Articles Posted in Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution
U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Propriety of Class Action Waivers in Mandatory Arbitration Agreements
Over the last several years, federal courts have relied on the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) in enforcing predispute mandatory arbitration agreements between employers and employees, which require an individual employee to waive his or her rights to assert employment related claims in court, in favor of arbitration. Such agreements, however, do not…
Arbitration Clause Did not Bar Class and Collective Civil Action for Overtime Under Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law
In an apparent case of first impression, Judge Harold Baer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, denied defendants’ motion to compel the arbitration of a collective and class action for overtime pay filed by financial advisors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”)…
Outlawing Mandatory Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements
Employers are requiring with greater frequency that employees accept mandatory arbitration as a condition of employment. In difficult economic times, employees are less likely to reject a job conditioned upon accepting mandatory arbitration. Indeed, employees often agree to waive their rights to go to court over future employment disputes in…
U.S. Supreme Court Accepts Mandatory Arbitration of Discrimination Claims for Unionized Employees
The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that a union could contract away a union member’s rights to pursue a statutory discrimination claim in court. In 14 Penn Plaza L.L.C. v. Pyett, the Supreme Court considered whether a union member with an age discrimination claim under the Age Discrimination Employment…