The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled recently that an arbitration agreement requiring an individual to pay her own costs and split the arbitration fees was invalid because it prohibited the plaintiff from effectively vindicating her statutory rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The decision by the Tenth Circuit in Nesbitt v. FCNH, Inc., et al., No. 14-1502 (10th Cir. Jan. 5, 2016) is significant because it appears to flout the well-established federal policy favoring arbitration, as repeatedly endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court in numerous decisions over the past decade.
A copy of the Tenth Circuit’s decision in Nesbitt is available online here.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.