Sanders

Defendant Kinko's, Inc., appeals from an order of the superior court that denied, without prejudice, its motions to stay this lawsuit and to compel arbitration of the claims asserted by one of the named plaintiffs pending resolution of class action certification issues. The primary question presented is whether the Federal Arbitration Act ( 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. (FAA)) precludes a state court from determining the class certification issues before compelling enforcement of an arbitration agreement covered by it. We conclude the FAA does not preempt the procedure employed in this case and affirm the trial court’s order.

Facts

Plaintiffs Ned Sanders and Patricia Lake, on behalf of themselves and “all current and former store management employees of defendant in California,” sued defendant for damages and injunctive relief. The complaint alleged plaintiffs spent much of their time at work performing nonexempt tasks, but defendant improperly classified them as exempt management employees. As a result, defendant violated state labor laws and administrative wage orders by refusing to pay plaintiffs overtime compensation when they worked over eight hours on one day or 40 hours…