US Supreme Court turns away trio of cases on worker arbitration exemption

Flowers Foods

22/04/2024 18:36

By Daniel Wiessner
       April 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday
declined to decide whether delivery drivers for Amazon.com
 AMZN.O , Domino's Pizza DPZ.N , and a Flowers Foods  FLO.N 
subsidiary qualify for an exemption from mandatory arbitration
of employment claims that the justices recently held applies to
a broad range of industries. 
    The court denied the companies' separate petitions for
review of lower court rulings that said the drivers were engaged
in interstate commerce even when they made local deliveries and
were covered by an exemption in the Federal Arbitration Act
(FAA), allowing them to pursue class action wage claims in court
rather than individual arbitration.
    The FAA generally requires the enforcement of otherwise
valid arbitration agreements, which many workers sign, but
exempts transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce.
    The companies and lawyers for the plaintiffs in each case
did not respond to requests for comment. 
    The Supreme Court in a 9-0 ruling earlier this month in
Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries held that the FAA exemption can
apply to any transport workers and is not limited to those who
work in the transportation industry, settling a split among
federal appeals courts. 
    The three cases the court turned down on Monday all
questioned whether workers, including Amazon "last mile" drivers
and Domino's drivers who deliver ingredients and supplies to
franchisees, were sufficiently involved in interstate commerce
to be covered by the exemption. 
    The justices have denied at least two other petitions by
Amazon for review of similar rulings in separate cases. 
    The Supreme Court also addressed the scope of the exemption
in the 2022 case Saxon v. Southwest Airlines, ruling that
supervisors of airline baggage handlers were engaged in
interstate commerce because they handled luggage that was moving
across state lines. 
    In the case involving Domino's, the Supreme Court in 2022
told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its
ruling against the company in light of the Southwest decision.
    The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit last year said the high
court ruling supported its earlier conclusion that Domino's
drivers are exempt from arbitration. 
    The cases are Amazon.com Inc v. Miller, Domino's Pizza LLC
v. Carmona, and CK Sales Co LLC v. Canales, U.S. Supreme Court,
Nos. 23-424, 23-427, and 23-460. 
    For Amazon: Michael Kenneally of Morgan Lewis & Bockius
    For Miller: Hillary Schwab of Fair Work
    For Domino's: Courtney Saleski of DLA Piper
    For Carmona: Aashish Desai of Desai Law Firm
    For CK Sales: Traci Lovitt of Jones Day
    For Canales: Benjamin Rudolf of Murphy & Rudolf
    
    Read more:
    Domino's unlikely to push drivers' wage claims into
arbitration, appeals court says
    Amazon again loses bid for SCOTUS review on FAA exemption
    US Supreme Court lets broad array of transport workers
sidestep arbitration
    U.S. Supreme Court rules Southwest Airlines cannot force
wage suit into arbitration
    'Last mile' Amazon drivers exempt from arbitrating wage
claims- 9th Circuit
    U.S. Supreme Court gives boost to Domino's in arbitration
case
    

 (Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; editing by
Nate Raymond)
 ((daniel.wiessner@thomsonreuters.com))