Arkansas Supreme Court embraces arbitration of employment disputes

In an attempt to avoid expensive court proceedings and jury trials, many employers require—or would like to require—their employees to sign agreements to arbitrate employment disputes. Unfortunately, the Arkansas Arbitration Act doesn't permit arbitration of employment disputes. However, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does. Recently, in an employment dispute involving an alleged violation of state law, the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the applicability of an arbitration agreement governed by the FAA. Let's take a look at the case.

Facts

Pinnacle Pointe Hospital owns and operates an inpatient facility for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral issues. In 2018, several hourly registered nurses and mental health technicians filed a class action lawsuit against the hospital for alleged violations of the Arkansas Minimum Wage Act (AMWA). The employees alleged Pinnacle had a common policy and practice of requiring employees to clock out for a 30-minute break each shift, regardless of whether they were able to take the break.

The employees claimed that because of low staffing levels and the demands of their patient care duties, they routinely worked through their breaks and weren't paid for the work they performed during that time. (This is called “working off the clock,” and it's a common basis for wage and hour claims.) They argued Pinnacle's break policy violated the AMWA's minimum wage and overtime provisions. They requested a jury trial in state court, seeking unpaid back wages and an equal amount of liquidated damages under the AMWA.