Employee Must Arbitrate Individual Wage Hour Claims, California Court Rules, Rejecting NLRB Opinion

Where the parties’ arbitration agreement was neither unconscionable nor in violation of public policy, the employee must arbitrate her individual wage and hour claims against her employer, the California Court of Appeal has ruled, affirming an order compelling arbitration in a class action for California Labor Code violations. Nelsen v. Legacy Partners Residential, Inc., No. A132927 (Cal. Ct. App. Jul. 18, 2012). Significantly, the Court rejected the employee’s reliance on the National Labor Relations Board’s D.R. Horton, Inc., 357 NLRB No. 184 (2012). The Board ruled in D.R. Horton that class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements violated the National Labor Relations Act. The Court noted there was no indication in the case before it that the plaintiff was covered by the NLRA. In any event, the Court was not inclined to follow the NLRB decision, declaring it not binding and that it went beyond the scope of the NLRB’s expertise.