FLSA Collective Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements Okay'd

Can the right to bring a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) be waived by an arbitration agreement? 

While we await the Second Circuit’s decisions in the appeals of two Southern District of New York decisions that said no to this question [here and here], employers that want to enforce waivers for FLSA collective claims recently received good news.

Judge Paul Engelmayer, also of the Southern District of New York, recently held [here] that “the right to proceed collectively under the FLSA can be waived by agreeing to arbitrate.”  This is another in a trend of cases upholding collective action waivers.

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