The US Supreme Court agreed last week to weigh in on the legality of individual arbitration agreements where employees waive their rights to pursue class action lawsuits.
Such agreements have long been enforced under the Federal Arbitration Act, The National Law Review reported, but the National Labor Relations Board takes the position such agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act.
Lower courts have made divergent rulings on the issue.
Arbitration agreements are used in the contingent workforce world. A well-known case involving such agreements comes from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld an arbitration clause in an independent misclassification lawsuit against Uber. The human cloud ride-hailing company had such a clause in place with its drivers.
However, Uber had a recent arbitration ruling against it: An arbitrator ruled that an Uber driver in California is an independent contractor, not an employee, The Recorder reported. However, the decision has “limited ramifications” for Uber and other legal battles. The decision does show how an arbitrator might decide claims in future cases.
