As a follow up to our post last year, this week, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court rejected the National Labor Relations Board’s position that class waivers in arbitration agreements violate federal labor law. The Court held that employers can legally require their employees, as a condition of employment, to agree that they will not pursue class action claims against their employers, but rather address legal issues through individual arbitration.
Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch stated simply that, “The [Federal] Arbitration Act requires courts to enforce agreements to arbitrate, including the terms of arbitration the parties select.” In support of the decision, he compared the “simplicity and inexpensiveness” of arbitration to “slower, more costly” class actions, which are, in the view of the majority, “more likely to generate procedural morass than final judgment.”
The effects of the decision remain to be seen – Justice Ginsberg read her dissent from the bench, calling for Congress to address the matter. For now, though, employers with arbitration agreements in place will want to add a class-action waiver, and those that do not use arbitration agreements at all may want to reconsider that approach.
The Employment Lawyers 