The Federal Arbitration Act is a federal mandate that encourages arbitration, although an exception in the act circumvents arbitration clauses in “contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” Defining which workers are engaged in foreign or interstate commerce has been the topic of several lawsuits. The U.S. Supreme Court has addressed the issue, but several questions remain unresolved and there is a split within the appeals courts.

It seems clear that the Supreme Court will need to provide additional clarity on exactly what job responsibilities qualify for the interstate commerce exception. Almost everything touches interstate commerce somehow.

The FAA was drafted to encourage arbitration. To be exempt from the FAA as a worker engaged in foreign or interstate commerce, the worker should actually be engaged in that activity.