Thousands of agreements couldn’t save this employer – see the compliance traps HR missed
On December 9, 2025, a California appeals court held Sierra Pacific waived arbitration in a wage-and-hour class action.
The California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, affirmed a trial court’s refusal to send a certified wage-and-hour class case against Sierra Pacific Industries to arbitration. The court concluded Sierra Pacific’s litigation conduct – over several years – was inconsistent with enforcing employee arbitration agreements, resulting in waiver. The court also dismissed the company’s separate appeal of evidentiary and issue sanctions as nonappealable.
The case began in 2018 when a former hourly, nonexempt employee sued on behalf of eight putative classes. Sierra Pacific used two arbitration agreements (from 2016 and 2022), and many nonexempt employees had signed them. The named plaintiffs had not. In 2020, the trial court ordered Sierra Pacific to comply with discovery requests related to arbitration agreements. The record shows discovery disputes continued, and the court imposed monetary sanctions more than once for noncompliance with discovery obligations.
In November 2022, the trial court certified eight classes. Between January 27 and March 8, 2023, Sierra Pacific produced more than 3,400 signed arbitration agreements. On March 10, 2023, it moved to compel arbitration as to absent class members who had signed agreements. Plaintiffs opposed, arguing Sierra...
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