New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira
586 U.S. 105 (2019)
Supreme Court of the United States · January 15, 2019
What the court decided
A court must decide for itself whether the transportation-worker exemption applies before ordering arbitration, even if the contract delegates arbitrability questions to the arbitrator. And "contracts of employment" in the 1925 Act means agreements to perform work, so the exemption covers independent contractors as well as employees.
Who won
The driver won. The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the First Circuit.
Why it matters for workers
A transportation worker labeled an independent contractor can still fall outside the Act, and a court, not an arbitrator, decides that first.
Key passage: 586 U.S. 105 at 111-16.
Read the decision (PDF) Marked with official reporter pages for citation.
Source of the text: Supreme Court of the United States (preliminary print of the official United States Reports, volume 586, part 1) — https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/preliminaryprint/586US1PP_Web.pdf. This page summarizes the decision in plain language; the court’s own words are in the PDF above.