Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group is pleased to announce the publication of the fall 2017 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor. This issue considers how the confirmation of management-side attorney...more
Among the most crucial federal agencies undergoing a transformation under the new presidential administration is the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). During the eight years of the Obama administration, with the Board...more
As our loyal readers are well aware, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in its Fall 2017 term regarding the enforceability of arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers. This has...more
It was no surprise when, on June 16, 2017, numerous business and employer groups (including several represented by Ogletree Deakins) filed over a dozen amicus briefs supporting the employers in the three class action waiver...more
On June 16, 2017, Ogletree Deakins filed an amicus brief in the class action waiver cases that are currently before the Supreme Court of the United States: National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc., Epic Systems...more
The Sixth Circuit just became the third federal court of appeals to hold that an arbitration provision requiring employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to arbitrate individually all employment-related...more
On Friday, May 26, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals became the latest federal appellate court to weigh in on whether or not arbitration agreements that include class action waivers violate federal labor law, specifically,...more
As a result of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to grant certiorari and address the dispute over whether class and collective action waivers are lawful in an arbitration agreement, many employers have asked whether similar...more
Relying on D.R. Horton Inc. v. NLRB and Murphy Oil, USA v. NRLB, the Fifth Circuit found the NLRB’s decision that Citibank violated the National Labor Relations Act by requiring employees to sign an arbitration agreement...more
On January 13, 2017, the United States Supreme Court consolidated and granted review of the three following cases involving the legality of arbitration agreements which contain class action waivers: National Labor Relations...more
The Supreme Court issued an order today agreeing to hear three cases involving the National Labor Relations Board’s holding that class and collective class action waivers violate Section 8(a)(1). According to the Board’s...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continued making life more difficult for employers in 2016. The agency issued a host of decisions that significantly expand the number and type of individuals that unions can seek to...more
The 2016 Presidential election was arguably the most contentious, unpredictable, and politically polarizing race in this nation's history. The contours of the electoral map changed by the hour in the days leading up to...more
In the years following the U.S. Supreme Court’s AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion decision, more and more courts enforced class waivers in arbitration agreements based on the commands of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The...more
The Fifth Circuit refused to enforce an order of the NLRB that found an arbitration agreement was invalid because it waived an employee’s right to maintain employment related class or collective actions....more
We previously reported on a federal circuit split that has developed over the enforceability of arbitration provisions waiving class actions in employment agreements. Compare December 19, 2013 (D. R. Horton) and November 9,...more
On May 26, 2016, in the matter of Lewis v. Epic Systems Corporation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that an arbitration agreement, which required employees to submit to individual arbitration for any...more
Conflicting decisions issued within one week of each other from the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits exemplify the ongoing debate in circuit courts across the country about the enforceability of...more
Setting the stage for U.S. Supreme Court review, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, has held that arbitration agreements that prohibit employees from bringing or participating in class or...more
On May 26, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued its decision in Lewis v. Epic-Systems Corp., finding that the company's arbitration agreement, which prohibits employees from participating in “any...more
There seems to be no end in sight to the standoff between the National Labor Relations Board and at least a majority of the federal courts over the legality of arbitration agreements that require employees to waive the right...more
Class action waivers in arbitration agreements continue to occupy the attention of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and uncertainty in this area of law raises ongoing concerns for employers. In D.R. Horton, Inc.,...more
More frequently, employers are turning to arbitration agreements to keep lawsuits out of court and prevent the threat of run-away juries. Many arbitration agreements also contain class action waivers which require employees...more
As expected, the Fifth Circuit once again has rejected the NLRB’s highly controversial position that the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) prohibits employers from requiring mandatory arbitration agreements that preclude...more
As it stands, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has taken the position that class action waivers in individual employee/employer arbitration agreements are illegal and the agency continues to invalidate these...more