Ninth Circuit Continues to Expand Transportation Worker Exemption Under Federal Arbitration Act

Courts are finding more workers who do not physically transport goods or people across state lines to be transportation workers exempt from arbitrating their claims under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration in a wage-and-hour lawsuit brought by an airline fuel technician in Lopez v. Aircraft Service Int’l, Inc., No. 23-55015 (July 19, 2024). Relying on the 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, 142 S.Ct. 1783, the Ninth Circuit panel ruled the plaintiff was a transportation worker engaged in foreign or interstate commerce and…