KFC EMPLOYEES WAIVED RIGHT TO ARBITRATE
Nearly 1,000 KFC employees filed suit against KFC alleging that it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay overtime to assistant managers at its restaurants. Later, a portion of the employees demanded arbitration. KFC argued that the employees had waived their right to arbitrate by opting in to the collective lawsuit. KFC claimed it would suffer prejudice from the delayed request for arbitration because during the lawsuit the American Arbitration Association had raised the applicable filing fee by forty-four percent. In response, the employees argued that arbitration would be far less expensive for KFC then pursuing the additional discovery in the lawsuit. A Minnesota federal court ruled that the employees had waived their right to arbitrate and would have to pursue their claims in court. Christian Parler v. KFC Corp., Case No. 05-cv-2198 (USDC D. Minn. Jan. 3, 2008).
This post written by Lynn Hawkins.
