Dive Brief:

• The Federal Arbitration Act does not exempt former and current Uber drivers in the U.S. from arbitrating their wage and hour claims because the drivers are not actively engaged in interstate commerce, the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held April 26 in Singh v. Uber Technologies, Inc.
• The FAA’s exemption for transportation workers doesn’t apply to Uber drivers because their “infrequent interstate trips are, on the whole,” not “an essential part of their job,” the 3rd Circuit ruled in two consolidated class-action lawsuits out of New Jersey. In the first case, drivers alleged that Uber violated state law by misclassifying them as independent contractors, not paying minimum wage and not reimbursing them for business expenses, according to court documents. The second case alleged that Uber violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and other labor and employment laws. As a condition of using Uber’s platform, the drivers had signed contracts agreeing to individually arbitrate all disputes that could lawfully be arbitrated, court records said. Uber sought to compel the drivers to arbitrate their claims.
• A federal district court found the drivers’ arbitration agreements were not exempt from the FAA and ordered them to arbitrate their claims. The 3rd Circuit upheld the ruling. The issue was whether the drivers fell within a “class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce,” a “residual clause” under the FAA exempting certain arbitration...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiXGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmhyZGl2ZS5jb20vbmV3...