Restaurant Workers Screwed by New SCOTUS Ruling | Eater

"As the nation's largest food-service employer, the company requires employees to sign arbitration agreements that include class-action waivers, meaning workers bound by those terms cannot pursue class lawsuits and must instead bring individual claims in arbitration. The Supreme Court's Epic Systems decision upholding such waivers — and permitting them to be enforced even when assent is inferred from continued employment or emails — strengthens this practice, making collective enforcement of wage-and-hour laws far more difficult and shifting disputes into costly, private proceedings that critics say favor employers. Advocates warn this will lead to underenforcement of federal and state labor protections and deter claims due to expense, procedural barriers, and fear of retaliation; suggested responses include increased public enforcement by attorneys general, filing many individual arbitrations simultaneously, or new forms of worker organizing. Employers, conversely, may see lower litigation costs and greater contractual certainty, though some lawyers note arbitration can still be expensive and risky for companies if noncompliance produces numerous separate claims." - Andrea Strong