To Be Or Not To Be A Transportation Worker, That Is The Question

KEY TAKEAWAY:

Depending on how the Supreme Court decides Bissonnette, restaurants may have increased exposure to class actions by independent distributors, such as the plaintiffs in Bissonnette.

The Supreme Court of the United States will soon decide whether the plaintiffs in Bissonnette  should be classified as transportation workers, and thus, free from arbitration under Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). See generally 9 U.S.C. § 1.

In Bissonnette, plaintiffs, independent distributors comprising a putative class, sued Flower Foods, Inc. and several of its subsidiaries, alleging “unpaid or withheld wages, unpaid overtime wages, and unjust enrichment.” Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27628, at *1 (2d Cir. May 5, 2022). Plaintiffs sued for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, along with “Connecticut wage laws,” id. at *2, and defendants sought to compel arbitration. The crux of the appeal focused on