Domino’s Pizza Franchisee’s Arbitration Agreement Violates the NLRA

A Domino’s Pizza franchisee violated the National Labor Relations Act by maintaining an arbitration agreement barring workers from bringing class claims, despite the argument that an opt-out provision set the agreement apart from the one in D.R. Horton that did not have opt-out option. According to the NLRB Administrative Law Judge, the agreement that required workers to give up any rights to pursue class or collective actions to resolve employment-related disputes violated the Act because it only gave employees 30 days to decide whether to sign the agreement. The judge determined that forcing employees to decide whether to waive NLRA-protected rights within 30 days “creates a smokescreen.” The judge did not, unfortunately, opine on how many days is sufficient to give employees time to decide whether to sign an arbitration agreement.