Employment laws impact everyone, regardless if you are actively employed or not. As employers continue to control costs associated with claims from employees, employers have commonly turned to arbitration agreements. These agreements normally require employees to waive any right or protection afforded by joining a class action and instead forces each individual employee to take the claims before an individual arbitration. In 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis by a narrow margin of 5-4 that employers could enforce these arbitration agreements.
In your assignment this week please explain why the court got this correct AND explain why the court was wrong. Lastly, if you were the 10th justice how would you vote and why?
If I were the tenth Justice, I would vote against the ruling. This is because the available Act doesn’t provide regulatory guidance that supports the majority ruling, which would undermine the courts’ integrity. The ruling would only widen violations of wages and hours by covering the claims in the umbrella that the Congress instructs enforcement of the arbitration agreements. Moreover, I would vote against the ruling and embrace the dissenting opinions because the court has ruled many cases in the §7 scope that lack specific procedures. This would support the idea that employees have the right to pursue civil actions without the employers` interference. Therefore, I would hold that anybody stopping the collective litigation on wages is acting against the law.
