{"id":1932,"date":"2016-02-23T15:57:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T20:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/?p=1932"},"modified":"2025-01-28T12:06:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T17:06:43","slug":"national-labor-relations-board-continues-invalidate-arbitration-agreements-containing-class-action-waivers-bucking-federal-court-rulings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/national-labor-relations-board-continues-invalidate-arbitration-agreements-containing-class-action-waivers-bucking-federal-court-rulings.html","title":{"rendered":"National Labor Relations Board Continues to Invalidate Arbitration Agreements Containing Class Action Waivers, Backing Federal Court Rulings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In its recent decision in <em>Murphy Oil USA, Inc.<\/em>, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reaffirmed its earlier decision in <em>D.R. Horton, Inc.<\/em>, that requiring employees as a condition of employment to waive their right to bring class, collective or joint actions violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRB\u2019s ruling is at direct odds with a ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that overruled the <em>D.R. Horton<\/em> decision and held that class action waivers in arbitration agreements do not violate the NLRA, so long as employees retain the right to bring individual claims. The Second and Eighth Circuits have likewise rejected the NLRB\u2019s reasoning in <em>D.R. Horton<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong> Murphy Oil required all job applicants and current employees, as a condition of employment, to sign a \u201cBinding Arbitration Agreement and Waiver of Jury Trial.\u201d \u00a0The Agreement provided that disputes related to employment shall be resolved by binding arbitration and that the parties \u201cwaive their right to commence or be a party to any group, class or collective action claim in arbitration or any other forum.\u201d\u00a0Sheila Hobson signed this Agreement when she applied for employment with Murphy Oil in 2008. Two years later, Hobson and three other employees filed a federal collective action against Murphy Oil alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In response, Murphy Oil filed a motion to compel the plaintiffs to arbitrate their claims on an individual basis. That motion was granted by the federal court and the action was stayed pending arbitration of the individual claims.<\/p>\n<p>Subsequently, the NLRB General Counsel issuing a complaint alleging Murphy Oil violated Section 8(1)(a) of the NLRA by maintaining and enforcing a mandatory arbitration agreement prohibiting employees from engaging in protected, concerted activities.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/national-labor-relations-board-continues-invalidate-arbitration-agreements-containing-class-action-waivers-bucking-federal-court-rulings.html\"  title=\"Continue Reading National Labor Relations Board Continues to Invalidate Arbitration Agreements Containing Class Action Waivers, Backing Federal Court Rulings\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In its recent decision in Murphy Oil USA, Inc., the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reaffirmed its earlier decision in D.R. Horton, Inc., that requiring employees as a condition of employment to waive their right to bring class, collective or joint actions violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRB\u2019s ruling is at direct [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,247,89],"tags":[],"coauthors":[139],"class_list":["post-1932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insights","category-labor-employment-insights","category-lindabury"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>National Labor Relations Board Continues to Invalidate Arbitration Agreements Containing Class Action Waivers, Backing Federal Court Rulings &#8212; February 23, 2016 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. 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Firm News &amp; Events","og_description":"In its recent decision in Murphy Oil USA, Inc., the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reaffirmed its earlier decision in D.R. Horton, Inc., that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/national-labor-relations-board-continues-invalidate-arbitration-agreements-containing-class-action-waivers-bucking-federal-court-rulings.html","og_site_name":"Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. 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