After the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision May 21 in a case brought by Epic that ruled arbitration agreements can legally bar employees from pursuing class action lawsuits, a different class action lawsuit against Epic regarding overtime wage disputes could be in jeopardy, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The Supreme Court case, argued in October, concerned Epic's technical writers, who claimed Epic owed them pay for overtime work. The Court determined the individual arbitration agreement the employees signed was legal under federal and state law and employees could not band together to dispute wages.
Quality assurance workers at Epic brought a seperate class-action lawsuit against the company in December 2016, claiming they were illegally denied overtime pay, but that case was put on hold while the Court argued the case involving Epic's technical writers. Epic moved to dismiss the quality assurance employees' case.
A day after the Court sided 5-4 with Epic, U.S. District Judge William Conley noted the ruling and lifted the hold on the lawsuit brought by the quality assurance workers. He gave the worker's lawyers, who also represented the technical writers, until June 12 to submit reasons the case shouldn't be dismissed.
If the quality assurance workers continue to oppose arbitration in their response, Epic would have two weeks to respond.
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