Fifth Circuit Holds Employers Are Not Required to Notify Workers Who Signed Individual Arbitration Agreements of Pending FLSA Class Litigation
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The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled a federal district court committed error when it ordered JPMorgan Chase Bank to notify thousands of current and former employees who signed an arbitration agreement waiving their right to engage in collective action against the company about a pending class actioncase. In a case titled In re: JPMorgan Chase & Co., No. 18-20825 (5th Cir., February 21, 2019), a group of Chase employees filed a Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) class action lawsuit against the company in the Southern District of Texas. The federal court conditionally certified the class and issued an order requiring Chase to notify approximately 42,000 workers about the pending lawsuit. Because about 35,000 of those individuals signed an arbitration agreement waiving their right to engage in collective action, Chase filed a motion to stay the case and a petition for a writ of mandamus with the nation’s Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In December, the appellate court issued a stay in the case.
In an opinion published on February 21st, the Fifth Circuit enumerated the three conditions that must be met before a writ of mandamus may issue.
Read original articleA writ of mandamus is “a drastic and extraordinary remedy reserved for really extraordinary cases,” In re Depuy Orthopaedics, Inc., 870 F.3d 345, 350 (5th Cir. 2017), and we may issue the writ only if three conditions are met. First, the petitioner must have “no other adequate means to attain the relief he desires.” Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court, 542 U.S. 367, 380 (2004). Second, this court “must be satisfied that the writ is appropriate under the circumstances.” Id. at 381. Third, the petitioner must demonstrate a “clear and indisputable right to the writ.” Id.
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