A unanimous decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court this week in the case of Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., No. 21-328 (U.S. May 23, 2022), the latest in a series of important arbitration rulings handed down by the High Court in recent years, creates even further incentive for an employer to act promptly when it seeks to compel arbitration. The Court’s procedurally complex ruling rejects a “prejudice to the employee” factor as part of a three-part test that has been used by a majority of federal appeals courts for deciding if an employer’s delay waives its right to arbitrate a dispute. Instead, the Court found that this factor is irrelevant in determining whether the employer has waived its right.
As a practical matter, the decision further increases the risk that delay in filing a motion to compel will be viewed as a waiver of the right to arbitrate the dispute.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.