Walmart Spark Drivers Lose Bid to Nix Wage Claim Arbitration (1)

Drivers who deliver goods to Walmart Inc. customers through the Spark program must arbitrate their wage claims after failing to show they qualify for a transportation worker exemption, a federal court said.

The Spark drivers argued their claims should stay in court thanks to a Federal Arbitration Act carveout for transportation workers. But they’re “engaged in purely local transactions between a particular retail store and nearby customers,” so they don’t fulfill the exemption’s interstate commerce requirement, the US District Court for the Northern District of California said Wednesday.

The workers, who sued on behalf of a proposed class, allege Walmart ...