Transportation Workers Shielded From Forced Arbitration

In May 2026, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split about the applicability of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) exemption for workers in the truck driving industry, which employs 1.6 million adults over age 50, including an estimated 300,000 low-income older workers.

Decision: Flowers Foods, Inc. v. Brock, 146 S. Ct. 1358 (2026)

Holding: In a unanimous, 9-0 decision authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Supreme Court affirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s holding that workers transporting goods on the last intrastate leg of an interstate journey fall within the FAA exemption and cannot be compelled to arbitrate employment disputes under that statute. Flowers Foods, Inc. v. Brock, 146 S. Ct. 1358, 1364-66 (2026). The Court ruled that workers do not have “to cross state lines or interact with a vehicle that does” to be engaged in interstate commerce and thus are exempted from mandatory arbitration. Id. at 1364.

Notably, AARP and AARP Foundation filed an amicus brief in support of transportation workers’ right to bring employment claims before the courts, rather than being forced into ineffectual, coerced arbitration agreements.

Implications

The Supreme Court’s decision broadly interprets the FAA’s transportation-worker exemption to strengthen labor protections by preserving access to justice for a broader category of transportation workers and preventing employers from using modern logistic arrangements to avoid the exemption. Given that reports show a trend toward an aging truck driver workforce where the average driver age is 58 years old, this outcome is especially important to safeguarding their right to bring alleged labor violations to courts equipped to decide their cases in more transparent and fairer ways.

Rachel N. Lokken, RLokken@aarp.org