Flowers Foods Drivers Seek Redo After Arbitration Appeal Loss

A recent Supreme Court decision requires a new look at whether drivers who deliver baked goods for Flowers Foods Inc. qualify for an exemption to a federal law that employers can use to compel arbitration of employees’ wage claims, the workers told the Second Circuit.

The appellate panel’s opinion held that the drivers, who “work full-time driving commercial trucks and delivering products within the flow of interstate commerce,” don’t fall under the Federal Arbitration Act’s transportation worker exemption. This ruling “directly conflicts” with a Supreme Court decision in June dealing with the same exemption, according to a petition for rehearing ...