On July 10, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the district court's orders confirming two arbitration awards insofar as those awards purported to bind our clients — home healthcare workers who had already left their jobs before their union and their employers signed a Memorandum of Agreement mandating arbitration of their unpaid wage claims. The Second Circuit unanimously held that:
• Our clients were wrongly denied the right to intervene in the district court proceedings;
• The union had no authority to arbitrate the claims of our clients because they were no longer members of the bargaining unit when the Memorandum of Agreement mandating arbitration of wage claims was entered into between the union and the employers; and
• The district court – and not the arbitrator – should have decided whether these workers' claims could be forced into arbitration.
In plain terms, our clients cannot be forced to arbitrate wage claims they never agreed to arbitrate, through an agreement that was entered into after they had already left their employment. After years of hard work performed as home health aides, they are now free to pursue their unpaid wages in the New York courts, individually and on behalf of others, where permitted, and to seek fair damages for their claims.
Our clients spent years fighting simply so they could be heard. We are enormously proud of our clients for their patience and persistence through years of hard-fought litigation, and we are grateful to everyone that has supported them throughout, including the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, the Legal Aid Society, Catholic Migration Services, the Chinese Staff and Workers Association, and the National Mobilization Against Sweat Shops. This fight is not over, and there is still work ahead to secure the compensation these workers are owed for years of underpayments. But today, we celebrate their victory.
We will continue to fight for every worker who was excluded from a process that was meant to protect them, and we will not rest until our clients receive the full and fair recovery they have earned.
