Case: Wage & Hour/FLSA Collective Action (E.D.N.Y.)

Alifine Dining Inc., D/B/A Nanking and its co-defendants may not compel arbitration of a former employee’s putative collective and class action claims alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law regarding minimum wages, overtime, spread of hours and wage theft prevention, through an arbitration clause in a “Non-discrimination and Arbitration” agreement he signed. The restaurant employers argued that the agreement unambiguously covers the asserted wage claims, and that a class action waiver in the agreement also applies, the court noted. The arbitration clause is narrow and the agreement only applies to discrimination claims, so ...