[author: Gail Jankowski]
Plaintiffs, former staffing managers of defendants’ international staffing agency, alleged that defendants misclassified them as overtime-exempt employees in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Following earlier rulings of the trial court permitting an arbitrator to determine the availability of class arbitration, the Third Circuit established precedent that it was the role of the court, not the arbitrator, to make this determination. The trial court then found that the relevant employment agreements did not specifically provide for class arbitration, and therefore no class arbitration could go forward. At issue on appeal were first, whether the availability of class arbitration was indeed for the court or the arbitrator to decide; and second, whether the trial court erred in determining that the parties’ agreements did not permit class arbitration.
Regarding the issue of availability of class arbitration, the Third Circuit reaffirmed its previous decision that the question of arbitrability of class claims is for the court, and not the arbitrator to decide. As to the issue of whether the employment agreements permitted class arbitration, the court held that silence regarding class arbitration generally indicates a prohibition against it. Moreover, the court stated that “[e]ven assuming arguendo that class arbitration may be permitted without express authorization in an arbitration clause, Plaintiffs ha[d] set forth nothing suggestive of any implicit intent to permit class arbitration here.” The court therefore affirmed the dismissal of the case due to the lack of authority to hold a class arbitration. Opalinski v. Robert Half Int’l Inc., Case No. 15-4001 (3d Cir. Jan. 30, 2017).
