Over the last several months, we have covered judicial developments relating to the NLRB’s D.R. Horton doctrine. As a reminder, since its D.R. Horton decision, the Board has taken the position that class-waiver provisions in arbitration agreements infringe on the rights of employees to engage in concerted activities and, therefore, violate the National Labor Relations Act. In 2016, varying rulings from federal appellate courts created a circuit split, and on January 13, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in three cases (out of the Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits) that present the issue of whether these class-waiver provisions violate Section 8(a)(1) of the Act.
On January 26, 2017, the NLRB’s Office of the General Counsel issued Memorandum OM 17-11, for the purpose of providing guidance on how Regional offices should handle cases involving D.R. Horton issues during the pendency of the appeal. The memo provides that:
- where the Regional office has determined that a pending case has merit, Regional offices are directed to propose that the parties enter informal settlement agreements conditioned upon the Board prevailing before SCOTUS;
- where informal settlement is proposed but rejected by the parties, Regional offices are directed to move forward on cases determined to have merit; and
- where the cases involve opt in/opt out clauses in mandatory arbitration agreements (or are otherwise distinguishable from the Murphy Oil decision – the Board’s current controlling authority on the D.R. Horton issue), Regional offices are directed to hold such cases in abeyance.
Thus, to the extent companies want to avoid agency-level litigation prior to the Supreme Court’s disposition, they should emphasize the existence of opt in/opt out clauses in the agreements at issue or any other distinguishing factor that may persuade the Board to stay the case until the Supreme Court rules.
We will continue to provide updates on any developments on this important issue from the Courts or the NLRB.