14 Penn Plaza's Impact on Collective Bargaining

Years ago, arbitration was frowned upon by the courts as a second-class system of justice that was unable to provide the thoughtful and full relief that courts could award. Recent jurisprudence has repudiated these antiquated beliefs regarding arbitration, and courts today readily enforce arbitration agreements. In 14 Penn Plaza v. Pyett, 07-581 (S. Ct. April 1, 2009), the Supreme Court continued this trend by clearly stating that a union-negotiated arbitration agreement can bind individual employees to arbitrate statutory discrimination claims. Accordingly, employers and unions should consider taking advantage of the benefits of arbitration by including provisions in future collective bargaining agreements (“CBAs”) that require unionized employees to arbitrate statutory claims.