Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard what may be the most important workers' rights cases in over 80 years. Both the Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 give employees “the right to … engage in … concerted activities for the purpose of … mutual aid and protection.” In three consolidated cases, employers argue that the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 allows them to deprive all employees of this right—through arbitration agreements banning joint, collective and class actions in any forum and requiring workers to pursue their claims individually in arbitration. 

If the court agrees, then all workers' rights—indeed, all of our rights—will be at stake. There may be no limit to the rights arbitration clauses can destroy.

The Cases and the Issue 

In National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA, Epic Systems v. Lewis and Morris v. Ernst & Young, employees claim their employers cheated them and their co-workers out of overtime pay. They are pursuing collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and class actions under state law. The companies insist they cannot do so because their employment agreements contain arbitration clauses with collective action bans. (Ernst & Young's is called a “concerted action waiver.”)