Workers get court victory

No doubt the Labor Day timing was just coincidental, but the California Supreme Court have given workers a pretty big victory. It's allowing them to bring class-action lawsuits alleging labor code violations even if they had signed agreements with their employers requiring them to arbitrate any disputes. The decision centers on an agreement that Circuit City asked employees to sign. You've probably gone through the same thing: It waives your right to file a class action and limits damages, recovery of attorneys' fees and the statute of limitations. But in a 4-3 ruling, the high court said that many of these agreements undermined employees' "unwaivable statutory rights" and "pose a serious obstacle to the enforcement of the state's overtime laws." From the SF Chronicle:

The Supreme Court majority said a ban on class-action claims for overtime - either in court or before an arbitrator - is illegal in most cases because it undermines ordinary employees' ability to enforce their rights under state law. That law entitles employees to time-and-a-half pay for working more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Such disputes usually involve relatively low-paid workers, who may not be able to afford suing for the modest amounts involve, may fear retaliation for suing their employer, and may not even be aware of their right to overtime, said Justice Carlos Moreno in the majority opinion.