US Supreme Court Unanimously Rules 'Last Mile' Local Delivery Drivers Exempt from Mandatory Arbitration Under Federal Arbitration Act, Allowing Court Litigation of Workplace Disputes

The US Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling on Thursday exempting independent 'last mile' local delivery drivers from mandatory arbitration requirements under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), in a case involving a distributor for Flowers Foods and two subsidiaries. The driver, Angelo Brock, distributed baked goods including Wonder Bread and Tastykake products from a Colorado warehouse to local stores — without physically crossing state lines. The Supreme Court affirmed a US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruling that Brock's role qualified for the FAA's exemption for 'transportation workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce', even though his own delivery route was entirely local. The ruling has broad practical reach: it means that large classes of gig-economy and independent contractor delivery workers who operate locally as the final link in an interstate supply chain cannot be compelled to resolve workplace disputes through arbitration. They retain the right to litigate — including potential class or collective actions — in court. While the decision is US domestic law, it carries relevance for UK-nexus firms: many Magic Circle and US firms with London offices advise multinational clients on gig economy worker classification across jurisdictions, and the divergence between US and UK approaches to arbitrability of employment-type disputes is a live compliance issue for global platforms operating in both markets. It also feeds into a global pattern of courts narrowing the scope of mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer and employment-adjacent contracts.