I authored an article for Modern Restaurant Management magazine outlining the Supreme Court’s recent decision impacting the future of class action waivers in arbitration agreements. In May 2018 the Supreme Court issued a decision in three consolidate cases NLRB v. Murphy Oil USA Inc.Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, and Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris ruling that “an employer may require an employee, as a condition of employment, to enter into an arbitration agreement in which the employee agrees to waive the right to bring a class or collective action.”

In the ruling, the court majority:

  • Held that the FAA [Federal Arbitration Act] (passed in 1925) clearly requires enforcement of private arbitration agreements according to their terms.
  • Rejected the argument that Section 7 rights under the NLRA (passed in 1935) trump enforcement of an arbitration agreement by means of the savings clause of the FAA.
  • Held that one Act of Congress will displace another only upon a showing of a “clear and manifest” congressional intention to do so and that “implicit” repeal of one statute by another is strongly disfavored.

The full article, “Supreme Court Approves Obtaining Class Action Waivers Through Arbitration Agreements – What Now?,” was published by Modern Restaurant Management on June 29, 2018, and is available online.