Melissa Greenberg is a student at Harvard Law School.
This post is part of OnLabor’s continuing analysis of National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA.
On Friday, counsel for the petitioners in National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA and Epic Systems Corporation v. Jacob Lewis filed their opening merits brief before the Supreme Court.
Petitioners argue that “[i]n cases involving the interaction of two federal statutes, the first objective is to harmonize the competing provisions, if at all possible,” and the Federal Arbitration Act and National Labor Relations Act “can indeed co-exist.” The petitioners contend that:
“The FAA unambiguously mandates enforcement of class waivers in arbitration agreements, and the NLRA contains no ‘clearly expressed congressional intention to the contrary.’ [citing Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 551 (1974)]. So the Court should do what it has done in prior cases involving the FAA and other federal statutes: construe the other statute in a way that harmonizes it with the FAA.”
This reading of the FAA and NLRA would result in the enforcement of class arbitration waiver provisions. Petitioners further argue that the National Labor Relations Board’s view that the NLRA contains a “clearly expressed congressional intention to the contrary” is “not entitled to deference under Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984).”
Alternatively, the petitioners maintain that “[e]ven if the two statutes could not be reconciled, the class waivers should still be enforced.”
Again, the full brief is available here.
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November 24
Labor leaders criticize tariffs; White House cancels jobs report; and student organizers launch chaperone program for noncitizens.
November 23
Workers at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority vote to authorize a strike; Washington State legislators consider a bill empowering public employees to bargain over workplace AI implementation; and University of California workers engage in a two-day strike.
November 21
The “Big Three” record labels make a deal with an AI music streaming startup; 30 stores join the now week-old Starbucks Workers United strike; and the Mine Safety and Health Administration draws scrutiny over a recent worker death.
November 20
Law professors file brief in Slaughter; New York appeals court hears arguments about blog post firing; Senate committee delays consideration of NLRB nominee.
November 19
A federal judge blocks the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel the collective bargaining rights of workers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media; Representative Jared Golden secures 218 signatures for a bill that would repeal a Trump administration executive order stripping federal workers of their collective bargaining rights; and Dallas residents sue the City of Dallas in hopes of declaring hundreds of ordinances that ban bias against LGBTQ+ individuals void.
November 18
A federal judge pressed DOJ lawyers to define “illegal” DEI programs; Peco Foods prevails in ERISA challenge over 401(k) forfeitures; D.C. court restores collective bargaining rights for Voice of America workers; Rep. Jared Golden secures House vote on restoring federal workers' union rights.