While the Supreme Court's opinion in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, 142 S. Ct. 1783 (2022), brought needed clarity to the analysis of the class of workers excluded as "transportation workers" by the residual clause of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), many questions remain. We blogged about the Saxon decision on June 8, 2022.
The plaintiffs-appellants in Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St. LLC., No. 20-1681 (Amended Sept. 26, 2022), who deliver baked goods to stores and restaurants in Connecticut, brought a putative class action against the company and its subsidiaries that manufacture the goods they deliver. The plaintiffs claimed entitlement to unpaid or withheld wages, overtime wages and unjust enrichment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Connecticut wage laws. The district court initially granted the defendants' motion to compel arbitration and dismissed the case. In an initial appeal, the Second Circuit panel concluded plaintiffs were not "transportation workers". See 33 F.4th 650 (2d Cir. 2022). But after Saxon was issued, the panel withdrew the opinion, on May 5, 2022. Yet, after further analysis, the panel majority again concluded that the plaintiffs were not "transportation workers," regardless of the fact that they drove trucks...
