POSTMATES MANDATORY REST TIME DRIVERS
It is not difficult to imagine the first sentence of whatever the drivers might file in response to Postmates’request: “Postmates is arguing on the one hand that drivers cannot bring their claims together, and argues on the other hand that the drivers cannot bring their claims individually.” It does not appear that the 10,000 arbitrations Postmates seeks to enjoin include the 5,000 individual arbitrations it was already ordered to conduct by a federal judge in Oakland – but there seems to be little question that the injunction Postmates seeks would be useful in trying to enjoin those arbitrations from proceeding, too.īut, of course, that is only if Postmates succeeds in obtaining such an injunction. In the new lawsuit, Postmates argues that thousands of individual arbitrations is a “de facto class action.” And it accuses the employees’ attorneys of “abusive litigation tactics” by filing thousands of individual arbitration demands. Unhappy with the order by a federal judge in Oakland requiring it to conduct more than 5,000 individual arbitrations, Postmates has now filed a separate federal lawsuit in Los Angeles against more than 10,000 of its drivers, seeking an injunction to prevent individual arbitrations from going forward. Now, one of the companies ordered to conduct thousands of individual arbitrations in California has taken an aggressive strategic step – one that seems likely to put it right back in front of the judge who ordered it to conduct thousands of individual arbitrations in the first place. It is the reason why many employers have chosen to forgo arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers – and the reason why many have settled cases on a classwide basis even when they have such agreements in place.
The risk of dozens, hundreds or even thousands of individual arbitrations attends any time an employer seeks the benefits of an arbitration agreement with a class and collective action waiver. Thousands of individual arbitrations for which DoorDash and Postmates would have to pay many millions of dollars in arbitration fees alone. We have used that expression frequently when writing about recent federal court orders requiring DoorDash and Postmates to conduct thousands of individual arbitrations in California pursuant to the terms of their arbitration agreements with their drivers.
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