Sutherland v. Ernst & Young LLP
Plaintiff Stephanie Sutherland sued her former employer, Ernst & Young LLP (E & Y), alleging violations of the FLSA and New York labor laws for unpaid overtime. E & Y moved to dismiss or stay proceedings and compel individual arbitration, citing an arbitration agreement with a class waiver. The court denied E & Y's motion, finding the class waiver provision unenforceable. The court reasoned that enforcing the waiver would make it prohibitively expensive for Sutherland to pursue her claims individually, effectively granting E & Y de facto immunity from liability. Despite the unenforceability of the class waiver, the court noted it could not compel class arbitration due to the agreement's silence on the matter, following the precedent of Stolt-Nielsen.