Rojgar Job News

As I noted earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court has approved of the use of class action waivers in arbitration agreements with employees. My colleague, Gabe Jiran, has a recap of Epic Systems v. Lewis on my firm’s blog, Employment Law Letter, that you can access here. So, it’s a foregone conclusion that employers of all shapes and sizes will start using arbitration agreements and insert provisions with class action waivers, right? Not so fast. As Jon Hyman astutely noted in his Ohio Employer’s Law Blog yesterday, this decision may not be the panacea employers are looking for. For example, it might end up being more costly for employers because arbitration may be more costly than litigation. Moreover, these costs only increase if you are arbitrating dozens, or hundreds, or thousands, of individual claims instead of one class or collective action. Don’t think for a second that this decision will end wage and hour litigation. Instead, plaintiffs’ lawyers,...

Back in 2011, I wondered aloud: Might the impact of new arbitration decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court bring about the end to big wage & hour class actions? At the time, I said it would be premature. Seven years later – what’s changed? Well, as it turns out, wage & hour class actions are not dead. Indeed, based on some statistics, they’re as costly as ever. Earlier this year, the Workplace Class Action Litigation report noted that just the top  ten class action settlements totalled over $2.72  billion in 2017 . I’d say the class action is still very much alive and well. Yet there are still signs on the horizon that employers may be able to fight back a bit on these claims. Late last month, the Ninth Circuit shot down a potential class action against Uber, on the grounds that the arbitration provision barred class actions.   It’s a significant victory for the company and highlights a way for companies to push back against the ...