Domino’s Loses Appeal of Bid to Force Wage Case Into Arbitration

Domino’s Pizza LLC must face a lawsuit by delivery drivers alleging wage law violations—even though they signed an arbitration agreement—because a statute promoting arbitration exempts workers engaged in “interstate commerce,” a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Thursday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a decision by a federal judge in Los Angeles, James V. Selna, about a year after he denied the pizza chain’s motion under the Federal Arbitration Act, which generally encourages enforcement of arbitration clauses.

Selna held in December 2020 that the proposed employee class action could move forward in the U.S. ...