On October 24, 2016, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction against implementation of major and contentious provisions of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces or "blacklisting" Executive Order.
On August 22, 2016, a California Court of Appeal held that an arbitration agreement in an employee handbook did not create an enforceable agreement to arbitrate.
The Ninth Circuit has held that an arbitration agreement that required employees to bring claims in “separate proceedings”, thereby prohibiting class and collective actions, violated the employees’ right to engage in concerted activity under the NLRA.
The 7th Circuit has found that a company's arbitration agreement, which prohibits employees from participating in “any class, collective or representative proceeding,” violated the employees’ right to engage in concerted activity under the NLRA.
The California legislature has reached the midpoint of its 2016 legislative session. The Governor has signed four bills of significance to California private sector employers.
There seems to be no end in sight to the standoff between the NLRB and at least a majority of the federal courts over the legality of arbitration agreements that require employees to waive the right to lead or participate in class or collective actions.
A recent Supreme Court decision indicates it will not necessarily accept a state court’s claim that generally applicable principles of contract law preclude enforcement of an agreement governed by the FAA.
Two recent Missouri Supreme Court decisions demonstrate Missouri courts will carefully scrutinize employment arbitration agreements in determining their validity.
