- Term
- 2023-2024
Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC
Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St was an arbitration case concerning delivery truck drivers for a major manufacturer of grocery store baked goods. The delivery truck drivers filed a class action lawsuit arguing that the corporation misclassified them and others as independent contractors to evade federal and state labor laws that provide protections and rights for employees. Transportation workers are exempted from forced arbitration clauses under the Federal Arbitration Act, but here, the corporation argued that these truck drivers were not transportation workers because they were employed by a food services company rather than a transportation company.
On April 12, 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously decided that the truck drivers in this case could not be forced by their employers into private arbitration, and that the exemption refers to a workers’ duties rather than the industry they are employed in — solidifying that the truck drivers were, in fact, transportation workers.