California Court of Appeals Enforces Arbitration Agreement Where Employee Sued Parent and Sister Companies
On 12/3/24, the California Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Gonzalez v. Nowhere Beverly Hills, LLC, and held that an employee who signed an arbitration agreement and later filed a wage and hour class action lawsuit, cannot avoid arbitration by suing and arguing that related entities are "joint employers" (the plaintiff's employer's parent and sister companies) while still arguing that arbitration does not apply because the related parties were not signatories to the arbitration agreement: