A federal judge denied a motion to dismiss an EEOC claim against a company that required employees to sign away their right to file discrimination charges with the federal agency.
Doherty Enterprises Inc., a company that owns and operates over 140 franchise restaurants in the Northeast, conditioned employment on the signing of an arbitration agreement barring employees from filing discrimination charges with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or state and local Fair Employment Practices Agencies, or to communicate with and participate in the proceedings conducted by them.
The mandatory arbitration agreement required employees to have all employment-related matters determined by binding arbitration, the EEOC said.
“The court’s order recognizes EEOC’s critical role in eradicating employment discrimination,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Robert E. Weisberg in a Sept. 2 press release. “Employers cannot immunize themselves from federal oversight by prohibiting employees from filing discrimination charges and communicating with EEOC. As the court held, Title VII gives the agency the authority to take immediate action to challenge the use of these types of overly broad arbitration agreements.”
Doherty’s motion to dismiss argued that the suit brought last year by the EEOC could not proceed because it was not premised upon a discrimination charge, and because the EEOC did not engage in pre-suit conciliation as required under other sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The court rejected those arguments and found that the law permits the EEOC to seek immediate relief without the same pre-suit administrative process. It also rejected Doherty’s argument that EEOC is limited to claims of “discrimination” and “retaliation,” holding that the EEOC can bring a claim to stop a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights protected by Title VII.
