The U.S. Supreme Court has decided a case involving a former employee of Viking who claimed that the cruise company violated California labor laws.
In a June 15 ruling, the court upheld the Federal Arbitration Act against a California law that grants aggrieved employees the means to bypass contractual arbitration proceedings and represent themselves and other current or former employees on behalf of the state to collect civil penalties from the employer if they are found to have violated labor codes.
Former Viking employee Angie Moriana worked for Viking as a sales representative in California between 2016 and 2017. She later sued Viking in a representative action under California's Private Attorneys General Act for alleged violations of the state's labor laws. Moriana alleged that Viking failed to provide her final wages within 72 hours, as required by the California Labor Code.
Viking argued that Moriana agreed to arbitration as a condition of her employment and argued the case's dismissal.
The Court ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act "preempts" the existing California statute.