Southwest Airlines Co. cannot force a baggage handler’s class-action lawsuit over overtime pay into private arbitration, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a decision with costly potential implications for companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. that employ many transportation workers.
The justices ruled 8-0 in a decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas that baggage handlers are engaged in interstate commerce because they routinely load cargo onto planes that cross state lines, exempting them from a federal law that requires the enforcement of agreements to bring legal claims in arbitration rather than court.
