Bissonnette v. Lepage Bakeries Park St., LLC

Questions presented

SCOTUS records, cert granted 29 Sep 2023

The Federal Arbitration Act exempts the "contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce." 9 U.S.C. § 1. The First and Seventh Circuits have held that this exemption applies to any member of a class of workers that is engaged in foreign or interstate commerce in the same way as seamen and railroad employees-that is, any worker "actively engaged" in the interstate transportation of goods. The Second and Eleventh Circuits have added an additional requirement: The worker's employer must also be in the "transportation industry." The question presented is: To be exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, must a class of workers that is actively engaged in interstate transportation also be employed by a company in the transportation industry?

Opinion summary

Etalia.ai summary of the majority opinion

The US Supreme Court case involved a dispute between delivery drivers and their employer, LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC. The primary issue was whether the drivers were exempt from arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) due to being engaged in interstate commerce. The court examined if these workers fell within the 'transportation worker' exemption of Section 1 of the FAA, which excludes certain classes of workers from mandatory arbitration agreements. Ultimately, it was determined that because these delivery drivers primarily operated intrastate routes and did not cross state lines as part of their regular duties, they did not qualify for this exemption.