EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION v. WAFFLE HOUSE, INC.
No. 99-1823
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 10, 2001—Decided January 15, 2002
534 U.S. 279
Paul D. Clement argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Olson, Acting Solicitor General Underwood, Acting Assistant Attorney General Yeomans, James A. Feldman, Gwendolyn Young Reams, Philip B. Sklover, Lorraine C. Davis, and Robert J. Gregory.
David L. Gordon argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were D. Gregory Valenza, Stephen F. Fisher, and Thomas C. Goldstein.*
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of Missouri et al. by Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Attorney General of Missouri, James R. Layton, State Solicitor, and Alana M. Barragan-Scott, Deputy Solicitor, and by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Bruce M. Botelho of Alaska, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Bill Lockyer of California, Ken Salazar of Colorado, Robert A. Butterworth of Florida, Earl I. Anzai of Hawaii, James E. Ryan of Illinois, Steve Carter of Indiana, Thomas J. Miller of Iowa, Carla J. Stovall of Kansas, Richard P. Ieyoub of Louisiana, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., of Maryland, Thomas F. Reilly of Massachusetts, Mike Hatch of Minnesota, Mike McGrath of Montana, Don Stenberg of Nebraska, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Nevada, John J. Farmer, Jr., of New Jersey, Patricia A. Madrid of New Mexico, Eliot Spitzer of New York, Betty D. Montgomery of Ohio, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Mark Barnett of South Dakota, Mark Shurtleff of Utah, William H. Sorrell of Vermont, Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., of West Virginia, and Herbert D. Soll of the Northern Mariana Islands; for the Maryland Commission on Human Relations et al. by Lee D. Hoshall and Elizabeth Colette; for AARP by Thomas
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for Associated Industries of Massachusetts et al. by Michael E. Malamut; for the Council for Employment Law Equity by Walter Dellinger, Samuel Estreicher, and Mark A. de Bernardo; and for the Equal Employment Advisory Council by Ann Elizabeth Reesman and Rae T. Vann.
JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.
The question presented is whether an agreement between an employer and an employee to arbitrate employment-related disputes bars the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from pursuing victim-specific judicial relief, suсh as backpay, reinstatement, and damages, in an enforcement action alleging that the employer has violated Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA),
I
In his application for employment with respondent, Eric Baker agreed that “any dispute or claim” concerning his employment would be “settled by binding arbitration.”1 As a
After an investigation and an unsuccessful attempt to conciliate, the EEOC filed an enforcement action against respondent in the Federal District Court for the District of South Carolina,2 pursuant to
Respondent filed a petition under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA),
“When the EEOC seeks ‘make-whole’ relief for a charging party, the federal policy favoring enforcement of private arbitration agreements outweighs the EEOC‘s right to proceed in federal court because in that circumstance, the EEOC‘s public interest is minimal, as the EEOC seeks primarily to vindicate private, rather than public, interests. On the other hand, when the EEOC is pursuing large-scale injunctive relief, the balance tips in favor of EEOC enforcement efforts in federal court
because the public interest dominates the EEOC‘s action.” Id., at 812.3
Therefore, according to the Court of Appeals, when an employee has signed a mandatory arbitration agreement, the EEOC‘s remedies in an enforcement action are limited to injunctive relief.
Several Courts of Appeals have considered this issue and reached conflicting conclusions. Compare EEOC v. Frank‘s Nursery & Crafts, Inc., 177 F. 3d 448 (CA6 1999) (employee‘s agreement to arbitrate does not affect the EEOC‘s independent statutory authority to pursue an enforcement action for injunctive relief, backpay, and damages in federal court), with EEOC v. Kidder, Peabody & Co., 156 F. 3d 298 (CA2 1998) (allowing the EEOC to pursue injunctive relief in federal court, but precluding monetary relief); Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Nixon, 210 F. 3d 814 (CA8), cert. denied, 531 U. S. 958 (2000) (same). We granted the EEOC‘s petition for certiorari to resolve this conflict, 532 U. S. 941 (2001), and now reverse.
II
Congress has directed the EEOC to exercise the same enforcement powers, remedies, and procedures that are set forth in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it is enforcing the ADA‘s prohibitions against employment discrimination on the basis of disability.
When Title VII was enacted in 1964, it authorized private actions by individual employees and public actions by the Attorney General in cases involving a “pattern or practice” of discrimination.
Prior to the 1991 amendments, we recognized the difference between the EEOC‘s enforcement role and an individual employee‘s private cause of action in Occidental Life Ins. Co. of Cal. v. EEOC, 432 U. S. 355 (1977), and General Telephone Co. of Northwest v. EEOC, 446 U. S. 318 (1980). Occidental presented the question whether EEOC enforcement actions are subject to the same statutes of limitations that govern individuals’ claims. After engaging in an unsuccessful conciliation process, the EEOC filed suit in Federal District Court, on behalf of a female employee, alleging sex discrimination. The court granted the defendant‘s motion for summary judgment on the ground that the EEOC‘s claim was time barred; the EEOC filed suit after California‘s 1-year statute of limitations had run. We reversed because “under the procedural structure created by the 1972
In General Telephone, the EEOC sought to bring a discrimination claim on behalf of all female employees at General Telephone‘s facilities in four States, without being certified as the class representative under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. 446 U. S., at 321-322. Relying on the plain language of Title VII and the legislative intent behind the 1972 amendments, we held that the EEOC was not required to comply with Rule 23 because it “need look no further than § 706 for its authority to bring suit in its own name for the purpose, among others, of securing relief for a group of aggrieved individuals.” Id., at 324. In light of the provisions granting the EEOC exclusive jurisdiction over the claim for 180 days after the employee files a charge, we concluded that “the EEOC is not merely a proxy for the victims of discrimination and that [its] enforcement suits should not be considered representative actions subject to Rule 23.” Id., at 326.
Against the backdrop of our decisions in Occidental and General Telephone, Congress expanded the remedies available in EEOC enforcement actions in 1991 to include compensatory and punitive damages. There is no language in the statutes or in either of these cases suggesting that the existence of an arbitration agreement between private parties materially changes the EEOC‘s statutory function or the remedies that are otherwise available.
III
The FAA was enacted in 1925,
The FAA provides for stays of proceedings in federal district courts when an issue in the proceeding is referable to arbitration, and for orders compelling arbitration when one party has failed or refused to comply with an arbitration agreement. See
The Court of Appeals based its decision on its evaluation of the “competing policies” implemented by the ADA and the FAA, rather than on any language in the text of either the statutes or the arbitration agreement between Baker and respondent. 193 F. 3d, at 812. It recognized that the EEOC never agreed to arbitrate its statutory claim, id., at 811 (“We must also recognize that in this case the EEOC is not a party to any arbitration agreement“), and that the EEOC has “independent statutory authority” to vindicate the public interest, but opined that permitting the EEOC to prosecute Baker‘s claim in court “would significantly trample” the strong federal policy favoring arbitration because Baker had agreed to submit his claim to arbitration. Id., at 812. To effectuate this policy, the court distinguished between injunctive and victim-specific relief, and held that the EEOC is barred from obtaining the latter because any public interest served when the EEOC pursues “make whole” relief is outweighed by the policy goals favoring arbitration. Only when the EEOC seeks broad injunctive relief, in the Court of Appeals’ view, does the public interest overcome the goals underpinning the FAA.7
If it were true that the EEOC could prosecute its claim only with Baker‘s consent, or if its prayer for relief could be dictated by Baker, the court‘s analysis might be persuasive. But once a charge is filed, the exact opposite is true under the statute—the EEOC is in command of the process. The EEOC has exclusive jurisdiction over the claim for 180 days. During that time, the employee must obtain a right-to-sue letter from the agency before prosecuting the claim. If, however, the EEOC files suit on its own, the employee has no independent cause of action, although the employee may intervene in the EEOC‘s suit.
Respondent and the dissent contend that Title VII supports the Court of Appeals’ bar against victim-specific relief, because the statute limits the EEOC‘s recovery to “appropriate” relief as determined by a court. See Brief for Respondent 19, and n. 8; post, at 301-303 (THOMAS, J., dissenting). They rely on
The proposed reading is flawed for two reasons. First, under the plain language of the statute the term “appropriate” refers to only a subcategory of claims for equitable relief, not damages. The provision authorizing compensatory and punitive damages is in a separate section of the statute,
The Court of Appeals wisely did not adopt respondent‘s reading of
Even if the policy goals underlying the FAA did necessitate some limit on the EEOC‘s statutory authority, the line drawn by the Court of Appeals between injunctive and victim-specific relief creates an uncomfortable fit with its avowed purpose of preserving the EEOC‘s public function while favoring arbitration. For that purpose, the category of victim-specific relief is both overinclusive and underinclusive. For example, it is overinclusive because while
The compromise solution reached by the Court of Appeals turns what is effectively a forum selection clause into a waiver of a nonparty‘s statutory remedies. But if the federal policy favoring arbitration trumps the plain language of Title VII and the contract, the EEOC should be barred from pursuing any claim outside the arbitral forum. If not, then the statutory language is clear; the EEOC has the authority to pursue victim-specific relief regardless of the forum that the employer and employee have chosen to resolve their disputes.10 Rather than attempt to split the difference, we are
V
It is true, as respondent and its amici have argued, that Baker‘s conduct may have the effect of limiting the relief that the EEOC may obtain in court. If, for example, he had failed to mitigate his damages, or had accepted a monetary settlement, any recovery by the EEOC would be limited accordingly. See, e. g., Ford Motor Co. v. EEOC, 458 U. S. 219, 231-232 (1982) (Title VII claimant “forfeits his right to back-
But no question concerning the validity of his claim or the character of the relief that could be appropriately awarded in either a judicial or an arbitral forum is presented by this record. Baker has not sought arbitration of his claim, nor is there any indication that he has entered into settlement negotiations with respondent. It is an open question whether a settlement or arbitration judgment would affect the validity of the EEOC‘s claim or the character of relief the EEOC may seek. The only issue before this Court is whether the fact that Baker has signed a mandatory arbitration agreement limits the remedies available to the EEOC. The text of the relevant statutes provides a clear answer to that question. They do not authorize the courts to balance the competing policies of the ADA and the FAA or to second-guess the agency‘s judgment concerning which of the remedies authorized by law that it shall seek in any given case.
Moreover, it simply does not follow from the cases holding that the employee‘s conduct may affect the EEOC‘s recovery that the EEOC‘s claim is merely derivative. We have recognized several situations in which the EEOC does not stand in the employee‘s shoes. See Occidental, 432 U. S., at 368 (EEOC does not have to comply with state statutes of limitations); General Telephone, 446 U. S., at 326 (EEOC does not have to satisfy Rule 23 requirements); Gilmer, 500 U. S., at 32 (EEOC is not precluded from seeking classwide and equi-
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
JUSTICE THOMAS, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE SCALIA join, dissenting.
The Court holds today that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) may obtain victim-specific remedies in court on behalf of an employee who had agreed to arbitrate discrimination claims against his employer. This decision conflicts with both the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA),
I
Before starting work as a grill operator for respondent Waffle House, Inc., Eric Scott Baker filled out and signed an employment application. This application included an arbitration clause providing that “any dispute or claim concerning Applicant‘s employment with Waffle House, Inc., or any subsidiary or Franchisee of Waffle House, Inc., or the terms,
The Court does not dispute that the arbitration agreement between Waffle House and Baker falls comfortably within the scope of the FAA, see Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams, 532 U. S. 105 (2001), which provides that “[a] written provision in . . . a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce to settle by arbitration a controversy thereafter arising out of such contract or transaction . . . shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable.”
The EEOC, in its complaint, sought to obtain the victim-specific relief for Baker that he could not seek for himself, asking a court to make Baker whole by providing reinstatement with backpay and compensatory damages and to pay Baker punitive damages.2 App. 39-40. In its responses to interrogatories and directives to produce filed the same day as its complaint, the EEOC stated unambiguously: “All amounts recovered from Defendant Employer in this litigation will be received directly by Mr. Baker based on his charge of discrimination against Defendant Employer.” Id., at 52. The EEOC also admitted that it was “bring[ing] this action on behalf of Eric Scott Baker.”3 Id., at 51.
By allowing the EEOC to obtain victim-specific remedies for Baker, the Court therefore concludes that the EEOC may do “on behalf of . . . Baker” that which he cannot do for himself. The Court‘s conclusion rests upon the following premise advanced by the EEOC: An arbitration agreement between an employer and an employee may not limit the remedies that the Commission may obtain in court because
The Court‘s position, however, is inconsistent with the relevant statutory provision. For while the EEOC has the statutory right to bring suit, see
Had Congress wished to give the EEOC the authority to determine whether a pаrticular remedy is appropriate under
The statutory scheme enacted by Congress thus entitles neither the EEOC nor an employee, upon filing a lawsuit, to obtain a particular remedy by establishing that an employer discriminated in violation of the law.6 In both cases,
II
Because Congress has not given the EEOC the authority to usurp the traditional role of courts to determine what constitutes “appropriate” relief in a given case, it is necessary to examine whether it would be “appropriate” to allow the EEOC to obtain victim-specific relief for Baker here, notwithstanding the fact that Baker, by signing an arbitration
A
To begin with, when the EEOC litigates to obtain relief on behalf of a particular employee, the Commission must take that individual as it finds him. Whether the EEOC or an employee files a particular lawsuit, the employee is the ultimate beneficiary of victim-specific relief. The relevance of the employee‘s circumstances therefore does not change simply because the EEOC, rather than the employee himself, is litigating the case, and a court must consider these circumstances in fashioning an “appropriate” remedy.8
As a result, the EEOC‘s ability to obtain relief is often limited by the actions of an employee on whose behalf the Commission may wish to bring a lawsuit. If an employeе signs an agreement to waive or settle discrimination claims against an employer, for example, the EEOC may not recover victim-specific relief on that employee‘s behalf. See, e. g., EEOC v. Cosmair, Inc., 821 F. 2d 1085, 1091 (CA5 1987); EEOC v. Goodyear Aerospace Corp., 813 F. 2d 1539, 1543 (CA9 1987); see also EEOC: Guidance on Waivers Under the ADA and Other Civil Rights Laws, EEOC Compliance Manual (BNA) N:2345, N:2347 (Apr. 10, 1997) (hereinafter EEOC Compliance Manual) (recognizing that a valid waiver or set-
In all of the aforementioned situations, the same general principle applies: To the extent that the EEOC is seeking victim-specific relief in court for a particular employee, it is able to obtain no more relief for that employee than the employee could recover for himself by bringing his own lawsuit. The EEOC, therefore, should not be able to obtain victim-specific relief for Baker in court through its own lawsuit here when Baker waived his right to seek relief for himself in a judicial forum by signing an arbitration agreement.
The Court concludes that the EEOC‘s claim is not “merely derivative” of an employee‘s claim and argues that “[w]e have recognized several situations in which the EEOC does not stand in the employee‘s shoes.” Ante, at 297. The Court‘s opinion, however, attacks a straw man because this case does not turn on whether the EEOC‘s “claim” is wholly derivative of an employee‘s “claim.” Like the Court of Appeals below, I do not question the EEOC‘s ability to seek declaratory and broad-based injunctive relief in a case where a particular employee, such as Baker, would not be able to pursue such relief in court. Rather, the dispute here turns on whether the EEOC‘s ability to obtain victim-specific relief is dependent upon the victim‘s ability to obtain such relief for himself.
The Court claims that three cases support its argument that the EEOC‘s claim is not “merely derivative” of an employee‘s claim. See Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U. S., at 24; General Telephone Co. of Northwest v. EEOC, 446 U. S. 318, 325 (1980); Occidental Life Ins. Co. of Cal. v. EEOC, 432 U. S. 355, 368 (1977). Once the actual nature of the dispute is properly understood, however, it is apparent that these cases do not support the Court‘s position, for none of them suggests that the EEOC should be allowed to recover victim-specific relief on behalf of an employee who has waived his ability to obtain such relief for himself in court by signing a valid arbitration agreement.
In Gilmer, for example, this Court addressed whether arbitration procedures are inadequate in discrimination cases because they do not allow for “broad equitable relief and class actions.” 500 U. S., at 32. Rejecting this argument, the Court noted that valid arbitration agreements “will not preclude the EEOC from bringing actions seeking class-wide and equitable relief.” Ibid. Conspicuously absent from the Court‘s opinion, however, was any suggestion that the EEOC could obtain victim-specific relief on behalf of an employee who had signed a valid arbitration agreement. Cf. ibid.
Similarly, in General Telephone, this Court held only that lawsuits filed by the EEOC should not be considered representative actions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. In reaching this conclusion, the Court noted that “the EEOC is not merely a proxy for the victims of discrimination.” 446 U. S., at 326. To be sure, I agree that to the extent the EEOC seeks broad-based declaratory and equitable relief in court, the Commission undoubtedly acts both as a representative of a specific employee and to “vindicate the public interest in preventing employment discrimination.” Ibid. But neither this dual function nor anything in General Telephone detracts from the proposition that when the EEOC seeks to secure victim-specific relief in court, it may obtain
Even the EEOC recognizes the dual nature of its role.9 See EEOC Compliance Manual N:2346 (citing General Telephone, supra, at 326). In its compliance manual, the EEOC states that “every charge filed with the EEOC carries two potential claims for relief: the charging party‘s claim for individual relief, and the EEOC‘s claim to ‘vindicate the public interest in preventing employment discrimination.‘” EEOC Compliance Manual N:2346. It is for this reason that “a private agreement can eliminate an individual‘s right to personal recovery, [but] it cannot interfere with EEOC‘s right to enforce . . . the ADA . . . by seeking relief that will benefit the public and any victims of an employer‘s unlawful practices who have not validly waived their claims.” Id., at N:2347.10
In the final case cited by the Court, Occidental Life Ins. Co. v. EEOC, this Court held that state statutes of limita-
B
Not only would it be “inappropriate” for a court to allow the EEOC to obtain victim-specific relief on behalf of Baker, to do so in this case would contravene the “liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements” embodied in the FAA. See Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U. S. 1, 24 (1983).
Under the terms of the FAA, Waffle House‘s arbitration agreement with Baker is valid and enforceable. See Part I, supra. The Court reasons, however, that the FAA is not implicated in this case because the EEOC was not a party to the arbitration agreement and “[i]t goes without saying that a contract cannot bind a nonparty.” Ante, at 294. The Court‘s analysis entirely misses the point. The relevant question here is not whether the EEOC should be bound by Baker‘s agreement to arbitrate. Rather, it is whether a court should give effect to the arbitration agreement be-
By allowing the EEOC to pursue victim-specific relief on behalf of Baker under these circumstances, the Court eviscerates Baker‘s arbitration agreement with Waffle House and liberates Baker from the consequences of his agreement. Waffle House gains nothing and, if anything, will be worse off in cases where the EEOC brings an enforcement action should it continue to utilize arbitration agreements in the future. This is because it will face the prospect of defending itself in two different forums against two different parties seeking precisely the same relief. It could face the EEOC in court and the employee in an arbitral forum.
The Court does not decide here whether an arbitral judgment would “affect the validity of the EEOC‘s claim or the character of relief the EEOC may seek” in court.12 Ante, at 297. Given the reasoning in the Court‘s opinion, however, the proverbial handwriting is on the wall. If the EEOC indeed is “the master of its own case,” ante, at 291, I do not see how an employee‘s independent decision to pursue arbitral proceedings could affect the validity of the “EEOC‘s claim”
Assuming that the Court means what it says, an arbitral judgment will not preclude the EEOC‘s claim for victim-specific relief from going forward, and courts will have to adjust damages awards to avoid double recovery. See ante, at 297. If an employee, for instance, is able to recover $20,000 through arbitration and a court later concludes in an action brought by the EEOC that the employee is actually entitled to $100,000 in damages, one assumes that a court would only award the EEOC an additional $80,000 to give to the employee. Suppose, however, that the situation is reversed: An arbitrator awards an employee $100,000, but a court later determines that the employee is only entitled to $20,000 in damages. Will the court be required to order the employee to return $80,000 to his employer? I seriously doubt it.
The Court‘s decision thus places those employers utilizing arbitration agreements at a serious disadvantage. Their employees will be allowed two bites at the apple—one in arbitration and one in litigation conducted by the EEOC—and will be able to benefit from the more favorable of the two rulings. This result, however, discourages the use of arbitration agreements and is thus completely inconsistent with the policies underlying the FAA.
C
While the Court explicitly decides today only “whether the fact that Baker has signed a mandatory arbitration agreement limits the remedies available to the EEOC,” ibid., its opinion sets this Court on a path that has no logical or principled stopping point. For example, if “[t]he statute clearly makes the EEOC the master of its own case,” ante, at 291, and the filing of a charge puts the Commission “in command of the process,” ibid., then it is likely after this decision that an employee‘s decision to enter into a settlement agreement with his employer no longer will preclude the EEOC from obtaining relief for that employee in court.
While the Court suggests that ordinary principles of mootness “may apply to EEOC claims,” ante, at 298, this observation, given the reasoning in the Court‘s opinion, seems largely beside the point. It should go without saying that mootness principles apply to EEOC claims. For instance, if the EEOC settles claims with an employer, the Commission obviously cannot continue to pursue those same claims in court. An employee‘s settlement agreement with an employer, however, does not “moot” an action brought by the EEOC nor does it preclude the EEOC from seeking broad-based relief. Rather, a settlement may only limit the EEOC‘s ability to obtain victim-specific relief for the employee signing the settlement agreement. See, e. g., Goodyear Aerospace Corp., 813 F. 2d, at 1541-1544.
The real question addressed by the Court‘s decision today is whether an employee can enter into an agreement with an employer that limits the relief the EEOC may seek in court on that employee‘s behalf. And if, in the Court‘s view, an employee cannot compromise the EEOC‘s ability to obtain particular remedies by signing an arbitration agreement, then I do not see how an employee may be permitted to do the exact same thing by signing a settlement agreement. See Scherk v. Alberto-Culver Co., 417 U. S. 506, 511 (1974)
Unfortunately, it is therefore likely that under the logic of the Court‘s opinion the EEOC now will be able to seek victim-specific relief in court on behalf of employees who have already settled their claims. Such a result, however, would contradict this Court‘s suggestion in Gilmer that employment discrimination disputes “can be settled . . . without any EEOC involvement.” 500 U. S., at 28. More importantly, it would discourage employers from entering into settlement agreements and thus frustrate Congress’ desire to expedite relief for victims of discrimination, see Ford Motor Co. v. EEOC, 458 U. S., at 221; Occidental Life, 432 U. S., at 364-365, and to resolve employment discrimination disputes out of court. See
III
Rather than allowing the EEOC to undermine a valid and enforceable arbitration agreement between an employer and an employee in the manner sanctioned by the Court today, I would choose a different path. As this Court has stated,
Congress has not indicated that the ADA‘s enforcement scheme should be interpreted in a manner that undermines the FAA. Rather, in two separаte places, Congress has specifically encouraged the use of arbitration to resolve disputes under the ADA. First, in the ADA itself, Congress stated: “Where appropriate and to the extent authorized by law, the use of alternative means of dispute resolution, including settlement negotiations, conciliation, facilitation, mediation, factfinding, minitrials, and arbitration, is encouraged to resolve disputes arising under this chapter.”
The EEOC contends that these provisions do not apply to this dispute because the Commission has not signed an arbitration agreement with Waffle House and the provisions encourage arbitration “only when the parties have consented to arbitration.” Reply Brief for Petitioner 17. Remarkably, the EEOC at the same time questions whether it even has the statutory authority to take this step. See Brief
In the last 20 years, this Court has expanded the reach and scope of the FAA, holding, for instance, that the statute applies even to state-law claims in state court and pre-empts all contrary state statutes. See Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos. v. Dobson, 513 U. S. 265 (1995); Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U. S. 1 (1984). I have not always agreed with this Court‘s jurisprudence in this area, see, e. g., Allied-Bruce, supra, at 285-297 (THOMAS, J., dissenting), but it seems to me that what‘s good for the goose is good for the gander. The Court should not impose the FAA upon States in the absence of any indication that Congress intended such a result, see Southland, supra, at 25-30 (O‘CONNOR, J., dissenting), yet refuse to interpret a federal statute in a manner
Given the utter lack of statutory support for the Court‘s holding, I can only conclude that its decision today is rooted in some notion that employment discrimination claims should be treated differently from other claims in the context of arbitration. I had thought, however, that this Court had decisively repudiated that principle in Gilmer. See 500 U. S., at 27-28 (holding that arbitration agreements can be enforced without contravening the “important social policies” furthered by the ADEA).
For all of these reasons, I respectfully dissent.
Notes
“The parties agree that any dispute or claim concerning Applicant‘s employment with Waffle House, Inc., or any subsidiary or Franchisee of Waffle House, Inc., or the terms, conditions or benefits of such employment, including whether such dispute or claim is arbitrable, will be settled by binding arbitration. The arbitration proceedings shall be conducted under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association in effect at the time a demand for arbitration is made. A decision and award of the arbitrator made under the said rules shall be exclusive, final and binding on both parties, their heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns. The costs and expenses of the arbitration shall be borne evenly by the parties.” App. 59.
Admittedly, this case involves a claim under the ADA while Gilmer addressed compulsory arbitration in the context of the ADEA. Nevertheless, I see no reason why an employee should not be required to abide by an agreement to arbitrate an ADA claim. In assessing whether Congress has precluded the enforcement of an arbitration agreement with respect to a particular statutory claim, this Court has held that a party should be held to an arbitration agreement “unless Congress itself has evinced an intention to preclude a waiver of judicial remedies for the statutory rights at issue.” Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473 U. S. 614, 628 (1985). Here, the text of the ADA does not suggest that Congress intended for ADA claims to fall outside the purview of the FAA. Indeed, the ADA expressly encourages the use of arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution, rather than litigation, to resolve claims under the statute: “Where appropriate and to the extent authorized by law, the use of alternative means of dispute resolution, including settlement negotiations, conciliation, facilitation, mediation, factfinding, minitrials, and arbitration, is encouraged to resolve disputes arising under this [Act].”“The powers, remedies, and procedures set forth in
“(1) If the court finds that the respondent has intentionally engaged in or is intentionally engaging in an unlawful employment practice charged in the complaint, the court may enjoin the respondent from engaging in such unlawful employment practice, and order such affirmative action as may be appropriate, which may include, but is not limited to, reinstatement or hiring of employees, with or without back pay (payable by the employer, employment agency, or labor organization, as the case may be, responsible for the unlawful employment practice), or any other equitable relief as the court deems appropriate. Back pay liability shall not accrue from a date more than two years prior to the filing of a charge with the Commission. Interim earnings or amounts earnable with reasonаble diligence by the person or persons discriminated against shall operate to reduce the back pay otherwise allowable.”
“Each United States district court and each United States court of a place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States shall have jurisdiction of actions brought under this subchapter. Such action may be brought in any judicial district in the State in which the unlawful employment practice is alleged to have been committed, in the judicial district in which the employment records relevant to such practice are maintained and administered, or in the judicial district in which the aggrieved person would have worked but for the alleged unlawful employment practice, but if the respondent is not found within any such district, such an action may be brought within the judicial district in which the respondent has his principal office. For purposes of
The court also neglected to take into account that the EEOC files suit in a small fraction of the charges employees file. For example, in fiscal year 2000, the EEOC received 79,896 charges of employment discrimination. Although the EEOC found reasonable cause in 8,248 charges, it only filed 291 lawsuits. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Enforcement Statistics and Litigation (as visited Nov. 18, 2001), http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/enforcement.html. In contrast, 21,032 employment discrimination lawsuits were filed in 2000. See Administrative Office,
JUSTICE THOMAS notes that our interpretation of Title VII and the FAA “should not depend on how many cases the EEOC chooses to prosecute in any particular year.” See post, at 314, n. 14 (dissenting opinion). And yet, the dissent predicts our holding will “reduce that arbitration agreement to all but a nullity,” post, at 309, “discourag[e] the use of arbitration agreements,” post, at 310, and “discourage employers from entering into settlement agreements,” post, at 312. These claims are highly implausible given the EEOC‘s litigation practice over the past 20 years. When speculating about the impact this decision might have on the behavior of employees and employers, we think it is worth recognizing that the EEOC files suit in less than one percent of the charges filed each year.
Similarly, the EEOC‘s authority to obtain legal remedies is also no greater than that of an employee acting on his own behalf.Our decision in Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., 514 U. S. 52 (1995), is not inconsistent with this position. In Mastrobuono, we reiterated that clear contractual language governs our interpretation of arbitration agreements, but because the choice-of-law provision in that case was ambiguous, we read the agreement to favor arbitration under the FAA rules. Id., at 62. While we distinguished Volt on the ground that we were reviewing a federal court‘s construction of the contract, 514 U. S., at 60, n. 4, regardless of the standard of review, in this case the Court of Appeals recognized that the EEOC was not bound by the agreement. When that much is clear, Volt and Mastrobuono both direct courts to respect the terms of the agreement without regard to the federal policy favoring arbitration.
The EEOC has consistently recognized that the Commission represents individual employees when it files an action in court. In this case, for instance, the EEOC stated in its answers to interrogatories that it brought this action “on behalf of Eric Scott Baker.” See Part I, supra. Moreover, the EEOC has maintained in numerous cases that its attorneys have an attorney-client relationshiр with charging parties and their communications with charging parties are therefore privileged. See, e. g., EEOC v. Johnson & Higgins Inc., 78 FEP Cases 1127 (SDNY 1998); EEOC v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 948 F. Supp. 54 (ED Mo. 1996).