About this episode

The Supreme Court ruled that last-mile delivery workers qualify for the Federal Arbitration Act's exemption from mandatory arbitration even if they do not cross state lines.

Flowers Foods, Inc. v. Brock | Case No. 24-935 | Argued: 3/25/26 | Decided: May 28, 2026 | Docket Link: Here Overview: The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that last-mile delivery workers who never cross state lines still qualify for the Federal Arbitration Act's exemption from mandatory arbitration if their intrastate routes form part of a continuous interstate journey. Question Presented: Whether a worker qualifies for the FAA's Section 1 arbitration exemption without crossing state lines or interacting with interstate vehicles. Posture: District court denied arbitration; Tenth Circuit affirmed; Supreme Court granted cert. Main Arguments: Flowers Foods (Petitioner): (1) Section 1 requires workers to cross state lines or interact with interstate vehicles; (2) Brock's purely intrastate route falls outside Congress's intended scope of the exemption; (3) Extending Section 1 to intrastate-only workers produces an unworkable, open-ended standard. Brock (Respondent): (1) Statutory text "engaged in interstate commerce" covers workers on intrastate legs of continuous interstate journeys; (2) Historical Commerce Clause precedent confirms intrastate actors participate in interstate…

Topics covered

• arbitration
• labor law
• interstate commerce
• Supreme Court
• legal precedent

Keywords

• arbitration exemption
• interstate journey
• last-mile delivery
• Supreme Court ruling
• labor rights

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Flowers Foods, Inc.

Books & works: Federal Arbitration Act, Saxon

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