Muller v. Roy Miller Freight Lines, LLC

Defendant Roy Miller Freight Lines, LLC (RMFL) appeals from an order granting in part and denying in part its motion to compel its former employee, plaintiff William Muller (Muller), to arbitrate his wage and hour claims under the arbitration provision in his employment agreement.  The trial court granted RMFL’s motion on all but one cause of action, Muller’s claim for unpaid wages, and stayed the prosecution of that remaining claim pending the completion of the arbitration.

The crux of this appeal is whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applies, and more specifically, whether Muller is a transportation worker engaged in interstate commerce under 9 U.S.C. § 1 (section 1) and thus exempt from FAA coverage.  If he is exempt from FAA coverage, as the trial court held, Muller does not have to arbitrate his cause of action for unpaid wages because Labor Code section 229 (section 229) authorizes lawsuits for unpaid wages notwithstanding an agreement to arbitrate.  If the FAA applies, as RMFL contends, the FAA preempts section 229, and Muller must submit his cause of action for unpaid wages to arbitration, along with his five other causes of action. 

For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the trial court’s order.  The court correctly concluded Muller is exempt from FAA coverage under section 1.  Even though Muller did not physically transport goods across state lines, his employer is in the transportation industry, and the vast majority of the goods he transported originated outside California.  Thus, section 229 requires staying the prosecution of his cause of action for unpaid wages while the other five causes of action proceed to arbitration.  The court also correctly concluded the arbitrator, not the court, must determine whether to conduct the arbitration on an individual or classwide basis.

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