Arbitration of California Labor Law Claims Still Varies, for Now

California state courts have handed down worker-friendly rulings far more frequently than federal trial courts on employer bids to arbitrate lawsuits brought under a state law that deputizes workers to sue over employment law violations as a proxy for the state.

The divide is a product of the different ways judges are applying the US Supreme Court’s June decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, which said employers can force arbitration of workers’ individual claims under California’s Private Attorneys General Act. The ruling left open whether class-like claims brought on behalf of other aggrieved workers can stay in ...