
Tala Doumani is a student at Harvard Law School.
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Southwest Airlines’s appeal to reverse a 7th Circuit ruling that held its workers suing the airline for overtime pay were exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The case, Southwest Airlines Co v. Saxon, is set to settle a circuit court split on how attenuated baggage supervisors are from interstate commerce.
The FAA requires the enforcement of employee arbitration agreements but exempts “seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” Southwest Airlines workers claim an exemption under this provision of the FAA as they “engage in interstate commerce” in their critical role of loading and unloading plane cargo. Southwest, on the other hand, argued that the exemption only applied to workers directly involved in the actual operation of the planes. In a parallel case involving Lufthansa Airlines, the 5th Circuit held the workers not exempt from the FAA. While a number of Justices appeared skeptical of Southwest’s reasoning, other members of the Court, including Justice Gorsuch, expressed discomfort with the employees’ definition of “engaging in interstate commerce” as opening the definition too broadly to encompass a myriad of workers.
Daily News & Commentary
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June 2
Proposed budgets for DOL and NLRB show cuts on the horizon; Oregon law requiring LPAs in cannabis dispensaries struck down.
June 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Ninth Circuit upholds a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration, a federal judge vacates parts of the EEOC’s pregnancy accommodation rules, and video game workers reach a tentative agreement with Microsoft. In a 2-1 decision issued on Friday, the Ninth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration […]
May 30
Trump's tariffs temporarily reinstated after brief nationwide injunction; Louisiana Bill targets payroll deduction of union dues; Colorado Supreme Court to consider a self-defense exception to at-will employment
May 29
AFGE argues termination of collective bargaining agreement violates the union’s First Amendment rights; agricultural workers challenge card check laws; and the California Court of Appeal reaffirms San Francisco city workers’ right to strike.
May 28
A proposal to make the NLRB purely adjudicatory; a work stoppage among court-appointed lawyers in Massachusetts; portable benefits laws gain ground
May 27
a judge extends a pause on the Trump Administration’s mass-layoffs, the Fifth Circuit refuses to enforce an NLRB order, and the Texas Supreme court extends workplace discrimination suits to co-workers.