The Supreme Court has weighed in: class and collective action waivers in arbitration agreements are lawful and must be enforced under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The Court’s decision ends a circuit split and overturns the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) position that class and collective action waivers violate employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Ever since the NLRB’s 2012 decision in D.R. Horton, courts have wrangled with the enforceability of class action waivers and the interaction between the NLRA and the FAA. The Supreme Court’s decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (Epic) brings an end to the dispute.1 In a 5-4 opinion authored by Justice Gorsuch, the Court held the FAA requires arbitration agreements to be enforced on the same grounds as any other contract, and the NLRA, which was enacted after the FAA, contains no contrary congressional command excluding class action waivers from the FAA’s mandate.
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