The United States Supreme Court ruled on Monday that airline
baggage handlers cannot be compelled to arbitrate employment
disputes under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Although the
ruling is narrow in scope, employees may seize on it in an attempt
to avoid mandatory arbitration provisions in the transportation
industry, including gig economy workers.
Summary of the Supreme Court's Decision
In Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, No. 21-309
(June 6, 2022), a Southwest Airlines ramp supervisor, Latrice Saxon
(Saxon), filed a putative class action in federal court alleging
that the airline failed to pay proper overtime wages to her and
other ramp supervisors. The airline sought to enforce its
arbitration agreement with Saxon and moved to dismiss the complaint
under the FAA. In response, Saxon invoked § 1 of the FAA,
which exempts from the statute's ambit “contracts of
employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of
workers engaged in foreign or
