The Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a Taco Bell franchise operator on May 23, finding a federal appeals court exceeded its authority in fashioning an arbitration-related rule in a fast-food employee’s class-action lawsuit over overtime pay.
The lawsuit went forward in federal court but the company involved waited almost eight months before invoking the arbitration clause in its standard form employment contract.
The high court’s opinion (pdf) in the case, Morgan v. Sundance Inc., court file 21-328, was written by Justice Elena Kagan. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments March 21.
The respondent, Sundance Inc., owns more than 150 Taco Bell franchises throughout the country. The petitioner, Robyn Morgan, worked at one of those franchises in Osceola, Iowa, as an hourly employee for three months in 2015….