Arbitration Agreements Waiving FLSA Collective Actions

The Supreme Court has made clear in recent decisions that although arbitral awards are subject to extremely limited review, a class and collective action waiver provision in an otherwise enforceable arbitration agreement is likely to be upheld. The application of these decisions in the employment context is of particular interest to employers, employees, and their representatives. In this article, SRZ employment & employee benefits partner Holly H. Weiss and former SRZ attorney Samuel Estreicher discuss a pair of recent cases in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sustained collective-action waivers under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Employment & employee benefits associate Frank P. Sabatini assisted with the article.