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The Center for American Progress reports
The Supreme Court held on [May 21] that employers can force their employees to sign away many of their rights to sue their employers. As a practical matter, Monday's decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis [PDF] will enable employers to engage in small-scale wage theft with impunity, so long as they spread the impact of this theft among many employees.
Neil Gorsuch, who occupies the seat that Senate Republicans held open for a year until Donald Trump could fill it, wrote the Court's 5-4 decision. The Court split along party lines.
Epic Systems involves three consolidated cases, each involving employment contracts cutting off employees' rights to sue their employer in a court of law. In at least one of these cases, the employees were required to sign away these rights as a condition of starting their job. In another, existing workers were told to sign away their rights if they wanted to keep working.
Each contract contained two provisions, a "forced arbitration" provision, which requires legal disputes between the employer and the employee to be resolved by a private arbitrator and not by a real court; and a provision prohibiting employees from bringing class actions against the employer.
Writing with his trademarked smugness, Gorsuch presents Epic Systems as a simple application of a legal text. "The parties before us contracted for arbitration", he writes. "They proceeded to specify the rules that would govern their arbitrations, indicating their intention to use individualized rather than class or collective action procedures. And this much the Arbitration Act seems to protect pretty absolutely."
It's the sort of statement someone might write if they'd never read the Federal Arbitration Act--the law at the heart of this case--and had only read the Supreme Court's decisions expanding that act's scope.
[...] Epic Systems means that employers who cheat a single employee out of a great deal of money will probably be held accountable for their actions--though it is worth noting that arbitrators are more likely to favor employers than courts of law, and that they typically award less money to employees when those employees do prevail. The biggest losers under Epic Systems, however, will be the victims of widespread, but small-scale, wage theft.
Via Common Dreams, Public Citizen says Congress Should Overturn Today's U.S. Supreme Court Decision Eroding Workers' Rights
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch, and the courts.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday May 23 2018, @02:36AM (17 children)
thanks, flyover ASSHOLES.
you are completely ruining our country.
you did the STIGGINIT thing (sticking it to the libs) but in the process, you fucking burned down the country.
I hope you are happy. you stuck it to the libs, but you also screwed yourself. R voters, in the majority, are wage-slaves, NOT business owners. I don't know what they think they are doing, but the smarter of us can see that they are conned into voting against their own best interests.
but hey, JESUS and no abortions. so, there's that.
*sigh*
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @03:08AM (4 children)
it's not only about the economy
it's a lot of people who reject the cultural changes D voters are bringing about in the context of their experience living in an economy that forces two-income homes...
they are not educated enough to articulate their problems and seek meaningful solutions because education is too expensive
want D team votes? make education free... confront the banks on student loans...
i agree on many levels it is insanity that they continue to vote R team...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @04:48AM
This is by design.
In the 70s, Richard Freeman, education adviser to Governor Ronald Reagan and President Richard Nixon said that, "An educated proletariat is dynamite! We must be selective in who we allow an education." Reagan ended free university education in California shortly after this comment.
Sorry, JS blocking unfriendly link, but I had trouble finding the full quote. Most references stop at what I quoted above, but I think the rest of the quote modifies it a bit and it would be dishonest not to include a reference with it (when blocking java script, you have to view without css to see the content [firefox -> tap [ALT KEY] -> View -> page style -> no style):
https://twitter.com/schwarz/status/965972221117325312 [twitter.com]
most references I could find cut off the quote like this:
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~hbf/priscult.html [rutgers.edu]
Sorry crappy sources, but the googles failed me.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @05:45AM
No shit, well Reagan defunded everything and for some strange reason the Democrats have decided to follow the same route playing to "the middle". The world was trying out a lot of things in the last 100-200 years, today we've now seen what different kinds of systems can be like, we've seen what succeeds and how, but instead of applying logic to government we allow emotion to rule our decisions. Party lines, "key" issues, basically an us vs. them situation.
We need to realize that the welfare of our country is way more important than the political hot potatoes we seem to be focused on. I guess we just need to figure out our common ground and go from there.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Captival on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:11AM (1 child)
want D team votes? Steal money from successful people and give it to illegals, welfare lifers and terrorists.
Oh wait, you're already doing that.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @01:58PM
i don't believe i said i was a D team voter
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @03:30AM (5 children)
Well name calling won't help, that is basically what got us here. All the "flyover ASSHOLES" on this site, ok most, are not the Jesus bible thumping types you are referring to. What we suckers on the ground tend to miss is the insane two party bullshit we've been conditioned to. It works wonders to keep us divided, and we already know that a LOT of the Trump supporters are regretting their choice to just fuck the system. The few that are trying to hold on to their bad choice are to be pitied more than anything.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @04:42AM (4 children)
Bless your heart. I Voted for him and still happy about it!
Sorry to contradict your claim, however, Trumps approval ratings are going up despite the 90% negative press. But I’m sure the news media is only looking out for the people. ;-)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @02:07PM (3 children)
well sir i think trump is doing an awful job... he is failing to implement anything remotely progressive...
at the same time, i still approve of the awful job he is doing... i share your happiness nonetheless... we sent him to be a bull in a china shop knowing that our only option was to burn it all down... it is now starting to catch fire... and i think overeducated liberals who have never worked a day in their life but feel no remorse about stealing from the working class are getting what has been coming to them for a long time
my family are farmers, construction workers and electrical engineers... practical men and women who do not need government to survive... we have no fear of this rotten system burning to the ground
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @02:26PM (1 child)
Your real masters count on that. They'll still be in charge after it is burnt.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @03:41PM
I couldn't say what our "real masters" are counting on, one way or another. But I'm really doubtful that "they" will end up being in charge once it is all burned to the ground. I'm also skeptical of the myth of the self-sufficient man who needs no government to survive. Revolutions are unpredictable. There will be lots and lots of collateral damage when things start lighting on fire. Where we end up is anybody's guess. One thing I am sure of is that there will be plenty of tears all around. Yes, even those self-sufficient men waving their AK-47 penis substitutes will end up wailing and in tears when this is all over. Be careful out there. Life can be rough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:34PM
No fear huh? It blows my mind when people say such clueless shit, it really shows how badly you've been brainwashed. You don't believe you need government because by and large the government has been doing a "good enough" job, but idiots like you see your paycheck and just get SO MAD at how much of a cut goes to the gov.
Yes we have a lot of things to fix in our government, but there is more good than bad. Just fixing the election process would have widespread benefits. Burning everything to the ground? Well that is how you get hordes of hungry and angry people grouping together and attacking each other.
The "rotten" components of every government are always the people. Since there is no way to fix human nature we therefore need to keep improving our systems of government to shut down avenues of corruption. It will never be finished, but it will be hindered by the useful idiots such as yourself that get brainwashed so easily.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 23 2018, @12:05PM (2 children)
I've lived in flyover states as well as Canadian flyover provinces
I was happy there
But my neighbors all resented the abuse they were subjected to by the liberal urban elite
Consider the way Hilary insulted trump supporters. The Donald couldn't have gotten more help from a magic lamps genii
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday May 23 2018, @02:29PM (1 child)
your neighbors were very likely 'programmed' from early childhood to think just ONE way and every sunday (you know what I'm referring to) they get another dosing of 'reinforcement' to continue to think along 'allowed' lines.
its just that simple. it really is. early mind control so deep you almost can never counter it with logic. that's why almost no R's convert to D. the indoctrination from all directions when you are young is almost ROM-like; can't erase it like eeprom or flash; its pretty much burned in read-only after a certain point. and the R's know this and BANK on it. why do you think the R's are so damned cozy with churches and religion?
all other conservative hatred toward libs is BS that can be ignored. there is only 1 core reason. 'the libs doing this or that to us' is not at all relevant, but its mostly what the sheep have been programmed to repeat, so they bleet it out endlessly. does not make it true; never was true. but the sunday sheep - they keep us all behind.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday May 25 2018, @03:54AM
Doesn't take programming. Took clueless politicians who opened their mouths.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:40PM (1 child)
This is what the Republicans do with their stolen seat.
Just remember this conservatives: All these shady tricks and abuses of power the Republicans are pulling right now will be in the hands of the Democrats pretty soon. And their voters are going to be out for blood so expect them to get used if you don't close them down.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @07:59PM
Indeed. It never ceases to amaze me that neither side has yet learned the truth of "what goes around, comes around". All these awful precedents that are being set today will be used one day by members of the opposing party. Yep, that's right!!! When one party makes an abusive power grab, the other party is virtually guaranteed to take revenge by using it against them just as soon as they can. Remember, you heard it here first.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 25 2018, @03:40AM
Hey, those of us in "flyover country" did our best to try to get Sanders elected. But no, you coastholes decided that it had to be Clinton and Trump. So we just picked the least worse of the two.