Sophia Serrao
Thu, 09/14/2023
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reviewed an appeal from the City of Sparks, Nevada appealing the decision by the lower court to not enforce an arbitration agreement within a Collective Bargaining Agreement. In Forbush v. City of Sparks, Civil Action No. 22-15079, the plaintiff alleged that his employer retaliated against him because he engaged in conduct protected by the First Amendment.
According to the Ninth Circuit stated that a Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) can waive employee’s rights to bring statutory claims in court only if the waiver is “clear and unmistakable,” meaning that the agreement to arbitrate must be explicitly stated in the CBA. In this case, no such clear language existed as the grievance procedure applied only to employee disputes concerning the interpretation and application of the CBA. The Court reasoned that the plaintiff’s claim did not require applying or interpreting the CBA itself, and therefore his right to bring his claim in court was not waived by an arbitration agreement.
