Amazon Drivers Can Bypass Wage Arbitration, 1st Cir. Says (2)

Amazon.com Inc. can’t force an AmazonFlex delivery driver to arbitrate proposed class claims that he and others are misclassified as independent contractors, after the First Circuit ruled Friday that they’re not bound by federal arbitration law.

The Federal Arbitration Act’s exemption for transportation workers includes those who “transport goods or people within the flow of interstate commerce, not simply those who physically cross state lines in the course of their work,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled.

Further, Amazon’s non-severable class action waiver is unenforceable as it violates Massachusetts public policy, the court said.

The decision ...