Class Action Waiver Challenged

In February 2014, partner Jeffrey Fuchsman and associate Rami Yomtov prevailed in a case before the National Labor Relations Board challenging a class action waiver in an arbitration agreement in a case involving a large janitorial contractor. The employee filed an unfair labor practice charge asserting that the class action waiver provision interfered with the employee’s right to engage in protected concerted activity in violation of the National Labor Relations Act based on the Board’s DR Horton decision. In one of the only known cases in the country to achieve such a result, the Administrative Law Judge ruled that the NLRB’s decision in DR Horton could not survive the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent cases upholding class action waivers in arbitration agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act. The ALJ held that the class action waiver was valid, and did not violate the Act.