SCOTUS Decision on Viking and Impact on Trucking Industry
Last week, the United State Supreme Court ruled in favor of Viking River Cruises Inc. v. Moriana. in a case over whether, under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), an agreement requiring an employee to arbitrate disputes on an individual basis precludes them from maintaining a PAGA action on behalf of a class.
What does this mean for Trucking?
While many employer groups applauded the decision as favorable toward businesses, this ruling does not benefit or apply to the trucking industry because the FAA exempts transportation workers.
In fact, labor and other interest groups have signaled their intent to push legislation in response. (see tweet from the political director for Teamsters Joint Council 7)
While many employer groups applauded the decision as favorable toward businesses, this ruling does not benefit or apply to the trucking industry because the FAA exempts transportation workers.
In fact, labor and other interest groups have signaled their intent to push legislation in response. (see tweet from the political director for Teamsters Joint Council 7)
How does this decicion impact the ballot measure to reform PAGA?
As activity ramps us in response to Viking, the Executive Committee of the California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act will continue to move forward with the ballot measure as planned and provided stakeholders with the folowing statement:
"Even with the SCOTUS ruling on Viking River Cruises, PAGA will still be an avenue for shakedown claims against businesses where trial attorneys take a huge portion of the recovery, leaving employees with a reduced amount. This is especially the case with anticipated efforts by various legislators to undermine the SCOTUS decision before this session is over. Our Executive Committee remains committed to seeing this initiative passed.”
Additionally, the committe provided a signature update that indicated the California Secretary of State sent out the request for the counties to begin their random sample and 11 of 58 counites have reported their random samples. They will continue to monitor progress but, given their numbers and validity rates thus far, qualification of this measure is looking promising.
