California Court of Appeal

In plaintiffs' class action suit against their former employers claiming various violations of the Labor Code, and that they were misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees, trial court's grant of defendants' motion to compel arbitration is reversed where: 1) the dispute falls outside the arbitration provision, which applies only to disputes regarding the "application or interpretation" of the parties' contracts; and 2) the dispute in this case un unrelated to the substance of the parties' contractual obligations, and instead depends on extra-contractual legal obligations an employer owes its employees, but does not owe its independent contractors.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/17/2012
• Published 10/17/2012

Judges

• Flier

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel