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Posts Tagged ‘ADEA’

Shipkevich v. Staten Island Univ. Hosp., 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, and the “Clear and Unmistakable” Rule

June 30th, 2009 Arbitrability, Authority of Arbitrators, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, United States Supreme Court 1 Comment »

 On April 4 we reported on 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, 129 S. Ct. 1456 (2009) (Thomas, J.), and published a follow-up post on April 7, 2009 (posts available here and here).     The question before the Court was whether “a collective bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably requires union members to arbitrate [Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”)] claims is enforceable as a matter of federal law.”   The Court told us the answer was “yes.”   

That answer, of course, begs the question whether any particular collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) “clearly and unmistakably” requires arbitration of statutory claims.  The Court in Shipkevich v. Staten Island Univ. Hosp., No. 08-CV-1008 (FB)(JMA), 2009 WL 1706590 (E.D.N.Y. June 16, 2009) recently considered, among other things, whether the CBA before it clearly and unmistakably required arbitration of claims under  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), New York State civil rights legislation, and New York City’s Human Rights Law, and said the answer was “no.”  So let’s take a brief  look at Shipkevich to get some perspective on what “clear and unmistakable” means.  Continue Reading »

Some Interesting Questions Raised by the Pyett Decision

April 7th, 2009 Arbitrability, Authority of Arbitrators, Legislative Developments, United States Supreme Court 4 Comments »

On April 4 we reported on 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, ___ U.S. ___ (2009) (Thomas, J.) (available here), as did many others last week.  Professor Sarah Cole of the ADR Prof Blog  published a thoughtful and well-written piece on Pyett (available here), which raised some interesting questions.   For example, Professor Cole observed that “if the Arbitration Fairness Act passes, it would not surprise me to see a subsequent effort to overturn the Pyett decision.”   As discussed in a series of posts we are publishing on the Fairness Act (Part I available here), the Act would render arbitration agreements falling within the scope of the FAA invalid and unenforceable to the extent they require predispute arbitration of consumer, employment, franchise and statutory civil rights disputes.  Continue Reading »

14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett: A Step Toward Bringing Federal Labor Law Arbitrability Rules in Line With Their FAA Counterparts?

April 4th, 2009 Arbitrability, Authority of Arbitrators, United States Supreme Court 2 Comments »

On April 1 the United States Supreme Court decided 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, ___ U.S. ___ (2009) (Thomas, J.), an interesting case that highlights some of the differences between labor arbitration governed by the National  Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) and arbitration governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq. (the “FAA”).  The question before the Court was whether “a collective bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably requires union members to arbitrate [Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”)] claims is enforceable as a matter of federal law.”  Slip op. at 25.  Reversing the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Court said “yes.”  See slip op. at 25.   Continue Reading »