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 collective actions against their employers. The arguments in Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris; Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis; and NLRB v. Murphy Oil USA Inc., will all be heard on October 2nd, so mark your calendars.
The cases before the Supreme Court originated either before the National Labor Relations Board, which had ruled that such agreements violate workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act to take collective action to ameliorate their working conditions, or with district courts that had used the NLRB's ruling to reject employers' motions to compel bilateral arbitration of putative collective and class actions.
SCOTUS will be resolving the resulting Circuit split, in which the Ninth and Seventh Circuits backed the NLRB's position when they ruled against Ernst & Young and Epic Systems, respectively, and the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Murphy Oil. Opening briefs are already on file and address, at bottom, whether the Federal Arbitration Act or the NLRA should take precedence.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.