Luxottica’s Effort to Arbitrate Wage Claims Meets Dubious Court

A federal appeals court panel signaled during oral argument that it will reject Luxottica of America Inc.’s request to dismiss a worker’s class claims under California wage-and-hour law and send her individual claims to private arbitration.

Judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday expressed doubt that eyewear consultant Passion Gabourel is bound by her earlier agreement to arbitrate workplace disputes even though she opted out of the most recent version of the pact.

“The problem is the effect of opting out was not made clear to the employees, that if you elect to opt ...