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Off the Clock Cases Revived by Ninth Circuit
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- Written by Jizell Lopez and Anthony Oceguera
The Ninth Circuit has revived two class actions against Nike Retail Services, Inc. and Converse, Inc. and they both will now have to face employee allegations that they violated the California Labor Code by failing to pay employees for time spent during “off the clock” exit inspections when leaving the stores.
In Rodriguez, et al. v. Nike Retailers, Inc., the lead plaintiff, Isaac Rodriguez (“Rodriguez”) alleged that employees should have been compensated for the time spent “off the clock” when waiting for the manager to check their bags for stolen items prior to leaving for the day. Similarly, in Chavez, et al. v. Converse, Inc. the lead plaintiff, Eric Chavez sought compensation for time spent submitting to “off the clock” exit inspections every time employees left the store.
FRIDAY FLURRY: UPDATES ON NEWS FROM THIS WEEK 6/21/19
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- Written by Michael Saqui and Jizell Lopez
NLRB Strikes Arbitration Agreement that Does Not Explicitly Permit Access to the Board
Employers, it is time to revisit your arbitration agreements. On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a unanimous decision striking an employer’s arbitration agreement on the basis that employees could reasonably construe the arbitration agreement to unlawfully restrict access to the Board and its processes.
Like many employers, Prime Healthcare Paradise Valley, LLC (“Prime Healthcare”) required their employees to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of their employment. The issue presented to the NLRB was that these arbitration agreements were very broadly worded and did not explicitly permit employees from filing charges with the NLRB regardless of the arbitration agreement as required under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). Rather, the arbitration agreements stated, “all claims or controversies for which a federal or state court would be authorized to grant relief” are subject to arbitration and included examples of such covered claims, including those related to wages, breach of contract, discrimination, and violations of any “federal, state or other governmental constitution, statute, ordinance, regulation or public policy.” Two employees filed unfair labor practice charges alleging the arbitration agreement interfered with their rights under the NLRA.