The Employer’s Motion to Compel Arbitration: Proving FAA Coverage Without Admitting a Condition of Employment

Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Partner | Duane Morris LLP

Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. chairs the Class Action Defense Team at Duane Morris and defends employers in class, collective, and representative actions, including PAGA actions in California state and federal courts. He has been quoted on the Supreme Court’s 2026 arbitration rulings, including the decision limiting arbitration for last-mile drivers who do not cross state lines, and has presented myLawCLE programs on arbitration agreements, class action waivers, and mass arbitration. With nearly four decades in practice, he has represented companies, executive teams, and boards in matters ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of employee claims.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Maatman earned his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1981 and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Washington and Lee University in 1978. He is admitted in Illinois and New York, before the Supreme Court of the United States and eleven federal circuit courts of appeals, and in federal district courts across Illinois, New York, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana, Colorado, Nebraska, and Arkansas.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Maatman is the 2026 Law360 MVP for Class Action Law and a 2024 Law360 MVP for Employment Law, his ninth such honor since 2013 and more than any other attorney in the United States. Chambers USA has ranked him among the nation’s leading class action defense lawyers every year from 2006 through 2025. He was inducted into the Legal 500 Hall of Fame in 2021 and received the 2026 Lawdragon Hall of Fame recognition, and he appears in the Lawdragon 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers guide for 2025 through 2027. BTI Consulting has named him a Client Service All-Star in nine of the last eleven years, and American Lawyer named him Litigator of the Week in 2014 for back-to-back victories in EEOC v. Sterling and EEOC v. Kaplan.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Maatman is a Fellow of the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and serves on the Law360 Employment Editorial Board. He has taught as an adjunct professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law for more than 35 years. He hosts the Class Action Weekly Wire Podcast and has served as a legal commentator on PBS, NPR, MSNBC, CNBC, and U.S. talk radio.

He has authored eight books on employment law, most recently The Employment Law Manual: A Practical Guide for Business Owners, Managers, and Executives (Wiley, 2026), and has edited an annual class action report every year since 2003. His 2026 publications include Class Actions: The Law of 50 States (ALM Law Press), the California Class Action Review, the PAGA Class Action Review, and the Wage & Hour Class Action Review. Earlier writing includes guidance for employers considering mandatory arbitration agreements with class and collective action waivers and an article on the Seventh Circuit’s treatment of mass arbitration tactics.

• Experience

Mr. Maatman’s recent speaking on dispute-resolution strategy includes “Arbitration Agreements and Class Action Waivers: Trends, Risks, and Strategies” (myLawCLE, December 2025) and “Mass Arbitration and Class Actions in a Post-SCOTUS Era” (Federal Bar Association and myLawCLE, July 2025). He has been interviewed on the Supreme Court’s May 2026 arbitration ruling and its implications for wage cases and on the risks transportation companies face after the Court limited arbitration for last-mile drivers.

His current California docket includes PAGA and wage-and-hour class actions under the California Labor Code and IWC Wage Orders, among them Pandelea v. Atlassian US, Inc., Burgara v. Kelly Services Global, LLC, Perez v. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc., Castillo v. Polypeptide Laboratories, Inc., and Sohal v. Kelly Services Global, LLC. He also defends transportation and logistics employers, including Capstone Logistics, Penske Truck Leasing, and Yusen Logistics, in wage-and-hour class and collective actions.

Across his career he defended and defeated the largest systemic enforcement action ever brought by the EEOC, the first state attorney general prosecution of a Wall Street firm for workplace discrimination and harassment, and the largest wage-and-hour class and collective actions ever brought in Florida and New York. He pioneered the employment-practices audit, profiled in The Wall Street Journal, as a tool for structuring personnel policies that reduce class action exposure.

Daniel D. Spencer, Partner | Duane Morris LLP

Daniel D. Spencer defends California employers in class actions and PAGA representative actions, wage-and-hour matters, and single-plaintiff claims under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. He appears regularly in California state courts and in all four federal districts in the state, and he advises employers on compliance and conducts employment-practices audits to reduce litigation risk. He co-edits the firm’s California Class Action Review and Private Attorneys General Act Review.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Spencer earned his J.D. from Loyola College of Law in 2013 and his B.A. from California State University, Northridge in 2008. He is admitted in California, Minnesota, and Washington, and before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California and the District of Arizona.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Spencer’s military awards include the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Spencer is Co-Editor of the California Class Action Review – 2026 and the Private Attorneys General Act Review – 2026. He has spoken on the Duane Morris Mid-Year and Year-End Reviews of EEOC Litigation and Strategy in 2026 and presented a firm CLE on the discoverability of AI prompts and outputs from
parties, counsel, and experts. He serves as a Civil Affairs Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, previously served with the California Army National Guard as a Judge Advocate and Civil Affairs Officer, and earlier served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps.

• Experience

Mr. Spencer represents employers in complex employment disputes, including wage-and-hour actions, class and PAGA representative actions, wrongful termination, and discrimination claims. He counsels clients on wage-and-hour, USERRA, ADA, and FMLA compliance, delivers employment-law compliance training, and advises on union negotiations and unfair labor practice claims. He appears before the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and state labor and discrimination agencies.

He joined Duane Morris as a partner in 2025 after serving as a partner at O’Hagan Meyer (2023–2025) and at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith (partner 2021–2023; associate 2019–2020), and earlier practicing at Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck (2016–2019) and Kern Wooley (2014–2016). His military service includes a deployment to the Middle East in support of Operation Spartan Shield, a Rule of Law Advisor assignment in Afghanistan, and a deployment to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

SESSION 1 – Proving FAA Coverage for the Employer’s Motion to Compel Before January 2027 | Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. & Daniel D. Spencer | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session teaches management-side employment litigators how to prove FAA coverage for an employer’s motion to compel now that Molina makes conceding FAA inapplicability fatal and AB 2155 closes the CAA fallback on January 1, 2027. The hour covers the express election under Tuufuli while Barbosa is pending, the business-level commerce declaration, the section 1 job-function record under Vela, and the forum decision In re Orr forces. It is designed for practitioners who have moved to compel for mixed and transportation-adjacent workforces in California state and federal court and examines which proof routes have been held since October 22 and what a post-Orr section 1 fight has cost.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – The Employer’s Onboarding Declaration: Proving the Signature Without Admitting a Condition of Employment | Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. & Daniel D. Spencer | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session teaches management-side employment litigators how to rebuild the employer’s motion-to-compel declaration after Molina v. Triumph. The hour covers striking the sentences that now admit a section 432.6 condition of employment, authenticating the e-signature from document-level audit facts, preparing the HR declarant, and preserving the open section 432.6 questions in state and federal court. It is designed for practitioners who file these motions in California, have revised their own template since October 22, 2026, and have defended an HR declarant on onboarding practice