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Supreme Court: EEOC trumps arbitration agreement
By Terry Frieden WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an anti-discrimination suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission overrides an agreement in which an employee has consented to settle disputes with his employer through binding arbitration. The 6-3 ruling came in a case in which the EEOC is suing Waffle House to win retroactive pay and damages for a cook who had suffered a seizure on the job. The cook, Eric Baker, had signed an application for employment with a Waffle House restaurant in West Columbia, South Carolina, which included the arbitration provision. Waffle House terminated Baker, saying it was for his "benefit and safety." Baker filed a complaint with the EEOC ,complaining his firing violated a disabilities law. The EEOC later, on its own, filed suit against Waffle House alleging the restaurant management had engaged in "unlawful employment practices."
The EEOC asked on Baker's behalf for back pay, reinstatement, and compensatory and punitive damages. It further asked Waffle House to change its policies regarding disabled employees. Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the Supreme Court majority, agreed with the EEOC's right to do so. "Neither the statutes nor this court's cases suggest that the existence of an arbitration agreement between private parties materially changes the EEOC's statutory function or the remedies otherwise available," Stevens wrote. Stevens was joined by Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer. Notably, Justice Clarence Thomas, a former chief of the EEOC, dissented. "I cannot agree that the EEOC may do on behalf of an employee that which an employee has agreed not to do for himself," Thomas wrote. He was joined by Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Antonin Scalia. Both the Clinton and Bush administrations had supported the EEOC appeal of an appeals court ruling that had limited the agency's action to a broad general action against Waffle House. The appeals ruling had said the EEOC could not seek damages on behalf of the specific employee. |
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