HEALTHCARE SERVICES GROUP, INC.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 6, 2018

01-CA-152928 (N.L.R.B. Aug. 6, 2018)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
HEALTHCARE SERVICES
GROUP, INC.
and Case 01-CA-152928
CARMEN MARIA FERRERAS
ORDER DENYING MOTION
This matter comes before the National Labor Relations Board upon the joint motion by
the parties to waive a hearing and decision by an administrative law judge and to transfer the
proceedings to the Board for a decision based on the stipulated record. For the reasons that
follow, the Board has decided to deny the joint motion.
On August 23, 2016, the General Counsel, through the Regional Director for Region 1,
issued an amended complaint and notice of hearing alleging that the Respondent has been
violating Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act by soliciting employees to sign,
and maintaining, Mutual Arbitration Agreements stating that all claims and disputes arising out
of the employees’ employment and/or termination shall be resolved through binding and final
arbitration. Separately, the amended complaint also alleges that the arbitration agreements
violate Section 8(a)(1) of the Act because they lead employees to reasonably believe that they
are prohibited from filing charges with the Board. On March 21, 2017, the parties filed their
joint motion with the Board and requested that the Board set a time for the filing of briefs.
Recently, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, 584 U.S.
__, 138 S. Ct. 1612 (2018), a consolidated proceeding including review of court decisions below
in Lewis v. Epic Systems Corp., 823 F.3d 1147 (7th Cir. 2016), Morris v. Ernst & Young LLP,
834 F.3d 975 (9th Cir. 2016), and Murphy Oil USA, Inc. v. NLRB, 808 F.3d 1013 (5th Cir. 2015).
2
Epic Systems concerned the issue, common to all three cases, whether employer-employee
agreements that contain class- and collective-action waivers and stipulate that employment
disputes are to be resolved by individualized arbitration violate the National Labor Relations Act.
Id. at __, 138 S. Ct. at 1619–1621, 1632. The Supreme Court held that such employment
agreements do not violate this Act and that the agreements must be enforced as written pursuant
to the Federal Arbitration Act. Id. at __, 138 S. Ct. at 1619, 1632.
The Board having considered the matter,
IT IS ORDERED that the Joint Motion is denied, without prejudice, in light of the
Supreme Court’s decision in Epic Systems, which overrules the Board’s holding in Murphy Oil
USA, Inc., 361 NLRB 774 (2014).1
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this proceeding is remanded to the Regional Director
for Region 1 for further processing consistent with Epic Systems.
Dated, Washington, D.C., August 6, 2018.
By Direction of the Board:
/s/ Farah Z. Qureshi
_______________________________
Associate Executive Secretary

1 Epic Systems did not affect the separate complaint issue whether the Respondent’s arbitration
agreement unlawfully restricts employee access to the Board. Having rescinded the Order
transferring this proceeding for a decision based on a stipulated record, the Board expresses no
opinion with respect to this issue at this time.