The Supreme Court has significantly broadened who qualifies for an exemption from mandatory arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act.
In a May 28 decision in Flowers Foods, Inc. v. Brock, the Court held that transportation workers can escape forced arbitration even when they work entirely within a single state, according to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.
The ruling means workers transporting goods on intrastate legs of interstate journeys, including last-mile delivery drivers, may now litigate employment disputes in court rather than face mandatory arbitration. Multiple bills in the 119th Congress seek to limit or bar forced arbitration more broadly in employment contexts.
The Federal Arbitration Act, enacted in 1925, generally requires courts to enforce arbitration agreements. But Section 1 of the law excludes employment contracts of transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce, allowing those workers to sue instead.
The company, one of the nation's largest commercial bakeries with operations in 19 states, sought to compel Angelo Brock into individual arbitration under a distributor agreement. Brock had picked up baked goods from a Colorado warehouse and delivered them to local retailers entirely within the state, then sued alleging worker misclassification and underpayment. The Supreme Court unanimously held that a worker transporting goods on an intrastate leg of an interstate journey can qualify for...
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