US Supreme Court to Determine Whether Workers Waive Class Action

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court (“USSC”) will hear arguments in a matter fundamental to how employers and their employees and contractors argue about rights and entitlements. The USSC can, in these matters, equip employers with powerful tools to shut down cases that look like the currently raging Uber class action and the important Microsoft class action (2000), the latter of which resulted in thousands of contractors becoming employees and receiving benefits and equity.

The USSC arguments on Monday in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris, and NLRB v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc. will focus on whether arbitration clauses in the employment or independent contractor context result in enforceable waivers of a worker’s right to bring or participate in a class action. These arguments underscore the rift in federal circuit courts of appeals regarding the interpretation of arbitration agreements as class action waivers in employment and other independent contractor agreements.