U.S. Supreme Court rules Southwest Airlines cannot force wage suit into arbitration

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co cannot force a baggage handler's class action lawsuit over overtime pay into private arbitration, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a decision with costly potential implications for companies including Amazon.com Inc and Uber Technologies Inc that employ many transportation workers.

The justices ruled 8-0 in a decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas that baggage handlers are engaged in interstate commerce because they routinely load cargo onto planes that cross state lines, exempting them from a federal law that requires the enforcement of agreements to bring legal claims in arbitration rather than court.

Latrice Saxon, a Chicago-based employee who worked as a "ramp supervisor," accused Southwest in a 2019 lawsuit filed in Illinois of failing to pay workers overtime. Ramp supervisors train and supervise baggage handlers and sometimes load cargo onto planes.

A Chicago-based federal judge sent the case to arbitration, saying workers are not engaged in interstate commerce merely because they handle cargo. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling, prompting Southwest to appeal to the Supreme Court.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-supreme-court-rules-southwest-180815951.html