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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court to consider whether employment contracts can ban worker class actions

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether employers can enforce workplace arbitration agreements that ban worker class actions.

At issue is whether the class-action bans violate federal law protecting workers’ rights to join together to contest issues of employment, report the National Law Journal (sub. req.), SCOTUSblog and the Associated Press.

The National Labor Relations Board contends the National Labor Relations Act, which protects the right of employees to engage in concerted activities, trumps the Federal Arbitration Act.

Public Citizen Litigation Group filed an amicus brief supporting the NLRB. A lawyer with the Public Citizen, Scott Nelson, told the National Law Journal that the case “really is about class action waivers in employment contracts generally” and the case could have a “far-reaching” impact.

The court agreed to consider the issue in three cases. They are National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA, Ernst & Young v. Morris and Epic Systems v. Lewis.