Tesla Factory Workers Arbitration Exemption Upheld on Appeal

Tesla Inc.'s California-based yard hostlers are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act and can move forward with their wage and hour claims in state court, an appeals court ruled.

The yard hostlers, who move shipping trailers around the company’s Fremont, Calif., factory grounds, qualify as transportation workers exempt from the FAA, Justice Carin T. Fujisaki said in an opinion on Thursday. California’s Courts of Appeal affirmed a trial court ruling that denied Tesla’s motion to compel arbitration, but partially reversed the lower court’s ruling that Tesla’s arbitration agreement can be disregarded under California’s labor code with respect to all of ...