With the World Series getting underway, Yogi Berra’s famous quote seemed like the appropriate headline for our latest update in the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) D.R. Horton/Murphy Oil saga. As we have discussed in previous blog entries, in 2012, the NLRB issued its decision in D.R. Horton, Inc., in which it held that an … Continue Reading
Search Results for: class action waiver
NLRB’s Isolated Position on Class and Collective Action Waivers Takes Another Hit
Fifth Circuit Rejects NLRB’s En Banc Hearing Request, Setting Up Likely Denial of Enforcement in Murphy Oil, USA In its 2012 decision in D.R. Horton, Inc., the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held that employers that require employees to agree to arbitrate employment-related claims, and to do so only on an individual basis, waiving the … Continue Reading
California Court of Appeal Affirms Enforceability of Prospective Meal Period Waivers (US)
In a ruling that clarifies a previously unsettled area of California employment law, a California Court of Appeal affirmed the enforceability of written, prospective meal period waivers for shifts between five and six hours long. The April 21, 2025 decision in Bradsbery v. Vicar Operating, Inc. explained that advanced “blanket” waivers are valid under the … Continue Reading
US DOS Extends and Expands Visa Interview Waiver Eligibility; President Rescinds Latest Covid Travel Ban (US)
Due to the limited capacity to adjudicate visa applications during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of State (DOS) announced the extension and expansion of its nonimmigrant visa interview waiver program through Dec. 31, 2022. Currently, U.S. consular officers may waive the in-person interview requirement for applicants who are renewing any type of nonimmigrant visa in … Continue Reading
US Supreme Court to Resolve Dispute Over Enforceability of Class Waivers in Arbitration Agreements
As followers of our blog know, we have been closely watching developments over the past few years involving the tension between the National Labor Relations Board and the courts concerning whether arbitration agreements that require employees to resolve most employment-related disputes in individual arbitration proceedings, and bar the use of class or collective action … Continue Reading
D.R. Horton – The Sequel: NLRB Finds Collective Action Waiver in Arbitration Agreement Unenforceable, Rejects Circuit Court Precedent on the Issue
A three-member majority of the National Labor Relations Board on October 28 reaffirmed employees’ right to bring class and collective action claims [pdf]. In a case against Murphy Oil USA, the Board stood by its earlier decision in D.R. Horton, Inc. [pdf] in which it ruled that requiring employees to waive their right to bring class and … Continue Reading
US Appeals Court Says Collective Action Waiver in Separation Agreement Unenforceable As Improper Limit on FLSA Rights
As we’ve reported here and here, recent decisions from the US Supreme Court, federal appellate courts, and more recently, even the California Supreme Court (see here) have clarified that class and collective action waivers in arbitration agreements, including those that waive employees’ right to bring a claim under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) … Continue Reading
The Demise Of Employment Class Actions?
The United States Supreme Court issued a decision in AT&T Mobility v. Conception, that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) prohibits states from conditioning the enforceability of arbitration agreements on the availability of class arbitration. Prior to this ruling, many courts had refused to enforce employment and consumer arbitration agreements which waived class actions. This week’s … Continue Reading
Lessons for California Employers from Viking River (US)
Last Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court waded into the complicated and controversial waters of California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”). At issue was whether pre-dispute arbitration agreements between employers and employees could be enforced to compel PAGA claims into arbitration – California courts had said no. At stake is a huge loophole which … Continue Reading
Supreme Court Reiterates Preemptive Effect of Federal Arbitration Act
The U.S. Supreme Court has once again reinforced its interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act, ruling on December 14 that a California state law prohibiting class action waivers in arbitration agreements may not trump the Court’s earlier decision in favor of enforcement of arbitration agreements. In the four years since the Supreme Court’s decision in … Continue Reading
