Class Action Lawsuits

Google stops requiring arbitration of employment claims

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It was less than a year ago that the Supreme Court ruled that employees could be required to individually arbitrate claims (and waive their right to participate in a class action), but arbitration agreements aren’t a silver bullet.  In fact, some employers are responding to local legislation and employee resistance by pulling back from arbitration requirements.

Just last week, Google responded to employee protests and announced that it would no longer require its workers to arbitrate employment related claims.  Read more about Google’s decision here.

Whether or not employee arbitration agreements make sense is a very company-specific decision.  Think carefully about what you’re trying to accomplish with these agreements and talk to your legal counsel about the risks and benefits.

Supreme Court To Determine Permissibility of Class Waivers In Employment Arbitration Agreements

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pillarsLast month, the Supreme Court agreed to resolve a circuit split over whether class action waivers — mandating that any claims brought against the employer be brought individually rather than as a class — contained in employment arbitration agreements violate employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The Court recently announced that it would decide the highly-anticipated case in its 2017 term, beginning in October. Both the Seventh and Ninth Circuits have struck down class action waivers in arbitration agreements. The Fifth, Second, and Eighth Circuits have held the opposite. We will update when the Supreme Court has made its decision. In the meantime, companies should consider the rule in their circuit before rolling out new employment arbitration agreements.

 

The Steep Consequences of Misclassification

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Two recent developments are a good reminder that companies who have independent contractors are under increased scrutiny and face a high bar in establishing that independent contractors are properly typingclassified as such — and not employees.

On July 15th, the Department of Labor issued a guidance saying that most workers qualify as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regardless of what the worker and the company may have agreed to. The guidance doesn’t announce a new test for independent contractor status. Instead, it starts with the “economic realities” test for independent contrator status that courts regularly use and a reads it together with a broad view of the FLSA’s definition of employ to reach a conclusion that most independent contractors are misclassified and should, instead, be treated as employees.

The DOL’s guidance was close on the heels of a decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court and ruled that FedEx delivery drivers are employees under Kansas state law, not independent contractors.  In making its decision, the 7th Circuit certified the question of whether the drivers were employees under the Kansas Wage Payment Act to the Kansas Supreme Court.  The Kansas Supreme Court, applying a 20-factor test, found that the drivers were employees because FedEx, among other things, assigns drivers their routes; requires them to check in with FedEx managers at the start of their day; regulates their appearance; and decides whether to hire a driver after the driver submits resumes and references like any other employee.

So what are the consequences of misclassification?  Companies that misclassify employees as independent contractors face penalties for failing to pay employment taxes, for failing to withhold taxes from pay, for failing to comply with wage and hour requirements (such as overtime), for failing to contribute to unemployment compensation, and for failing to comply with other employment-related laws.  In addition, the Affordable Care Act opens companies that misclassify workers to significant penalties — both based on failure to offer coverage to the required portion of the workforce and where a misclassified worker obtains coverage on an exchange.

In light of these developments, we strongly recommend that any company that has independent contractors work with counsel to determine if these workers are properly classified.  A thorough review now could save you lots of money, time, and aggravation later.

Another Court Rules in Favor of Class Action Waivers

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gavelpictureOn March 21, 2014, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Alabama, Florida, and Georgia) became the fifth federal circuit court to reject arguments against arbitration agreements containing class waivers, joining the Eighth, Second, Fifth, and Ninth circuits in enforcing such agreements.

In the Eleventh Circuit case (Walthour v. Chipio Windshield Repair), employees brought a class action alleging their employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying them required minimum and overtime wages. The defendants moved to compel arbitration, citing agreements the plaintiffs had signed which stipulated that all employment disputes were to be resolved through individual arbitration. In the end, the court sided with the employer and the lower court, ruling that the arbitration agreements were enforceable and that the class action could not move forward.

As discussed in our earlier post Tide Continues in Favor of Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements, more employers are using these types of agreements to reduce the risk of class claims. The Walthour decision continues a trend of court cases in favor of the agreements.

There are advantages and disadvantages to arbitrating disputes with employees, but for employers that fear class claims, either because of the nature of their workforce or their industry, arbitration agreements can make a great deal of sense.

A Big (Bad?) Week for Employers Under the FLSA

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overtimeIt was a big week for the Fair Labor Standards Act.

On March 7th, the Supreme Court let stand a decision that the owner, president and CEO of a supermarket chain in New York is personally liable for his company’s failure to make required payments on a FLSA settlement agreement.  The owner argued that to be held personally liable he had to be responsible for the violations (rather than just have general control over corporate operations). However, the Supreme Court refused to hear his arguments against the court of appeals’ decision, which can be interpreted broadly to suggest that an individual may be held personally liable for FLSA violations by virtue of general control of over corporate affairs.

On March 10th, the Supreme Court declined to review an appeals court decision finding that undocumented workers can sue — and recover wages owed — under the FLSA.

Then, on March 13th, President Obama directed the Secretary of Labor to update the FLSA’s overtime exemptions to provide more employees with overtime pay.  Some have speculated that the change will be to significantly raise the minimum weekly salary for an employee to be considered exempt under most exemptions (currently $455/week), but changes could also include rewrites of the job duties tests for the frequently used “white collar exemptions” or other limitations on current exemptions.  It remains to be seen what changes will be proposed by the administration and whether they can be implemented before the end of the President’s term.  We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Tide Continues in Favor of Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements

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On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals sitting in New York handed down its decision in Sutherland v. Ernst & Young, giving employers yet another leg up in enforcing requirements that their employees forego class actions and pursue their claims individually in arbitration.

Since the Supreme Court’s decision two years ago that a class action waiver in an arbitration agreement was enforceable (which, practically, means that a party can avoid class actions if it’s agreed to in advance in an arbitration agreement), plaintiffs’ attorneys and government agencies have been trying to find exceptions to the Court’s holding in the employment context. The three primary arguments have been (1) that the National Labor Relations Act gives employees an unwaiveable right to participate in collective litigation, (2) that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s special provisions for collective (opt-in) actions trump the Federal Arbitration Act, and (3) that plaintiffs can’t be required to arbitrate individually if their claims are so small that individual actions are impractical. The third of these arguments was rejected by the Supreme Court this June in the Amex decision. In the Sutherland decision last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals joined the majority of courts in rejecting the first and second arguments as well.

What does this mean for your business? It means that you should seriously consider implementing a mandatory arbitration policy that requires individual arbitration of employee claims. Arbitration isn’t perfect – and a requirement that cases be arbitrated individually could be turned against an employer if a large group of employees each files an individual claim – but in many cases the downsides of arbitration are far outweighed by the ability to avoid class actions.