© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A Domino’s Pizza restaurant is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Courtroom on Monday gave a lift to Domino’s Pizza (NYSE:) Inc’s bid to pressure supply drivers to convey a wage lawsuit in personal arbitration relatively than in court docket in a case from California that might have main implications for gig economic system corporations.
The justices threw out a decrease court docket’s ruling that had let a bunch of drivers pursue a category motion lawsuit looking for to recoup work-related bills as a result of their native deliveries represented the ultimate step within the stream of products over state traces.
The justices ordered the San Francisco-based ninth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals to rethink the case in gentle of the Supreme Courtroom’s unanimous ruling in June that Southwest Airways (NYSE:) Co couldn’t pressure an time beyond regulation pay lawsuit by baggage handlers into arbitration as a result of the employees routinely load cargo onto planes that cross state traces.
A U.S. legislation known as the Federal Arbitration Act requires the enforcement of agreements that employees signal with corporations to convey authorized disputes in arbitration, however it exempts transportation employees engaged in interstate commerce.
Greater than half of private-sector U.S. workers have signed arbitration agreements, which generally additionally bar class motion claims. Enterprise teams have known as arbitration a faster and extra environment friendly various to suing in court docket. Employees’ advocates have mentioned that course of tends to favor employers.
Three supply drivers sued Domino’s in California state court docket in Santa Ana in 2020, accusing the corporate of violating numerous wage legal guidelines, and the case was subsequently transferred to federal court docket.
Domino’s made a movement to ship the claims to arbitration, citing agreements that the drivers had signed barring them from suing in court docket. A federal choose in Santa Ana denied the movement, ruling that the drivers have been exempt from arbitration as a result of they have been concerned in interstate commerce.
The ninth Circuit final 12 months upheld the choose’s determination, discovering that the drivers have been integral in getting merchandise that got here from exterior California to their ultimate locations. Domino’s then appealed to the Supreme Courtroom.
There was a rising variety of lawsuits filed in courts across the nation asserting that native supply drivers qualify for the interstate commerce exemption as a result of they deal with items coming from different states similar to numerous substances used to make Domino’s pizza and different ready meals.
The scope of the exemption has divided federal appeals courts in instances involving Grubhub Inc, Uber Applied sciences (NYSE:) Inc and its subsidiary Postmates Inc, and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:) “final mile” supply employees.