Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. case brief

Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. case brief summary
500 U.S. 20 (1991)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Petitioner former employee challenged a judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, holding that a claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C.S. § 621 et seq., could be subjected to compulsory arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement in a securities registration application.

DISCUSSION

• The decision that a claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 29 U.S.C.S. § 621 et seq., could be subjected to compulsory arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement in a securities application was affirmed. 
• Although 9 U.S.C.S. § 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) provided that the FAA did not apply to a contract of employment of any class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce, the court held that this was not applicable to an arbitration clause in a securities application. 
• Having made a bargain to arbitrate, petitioner was held to it unless he showed proof that Congress evinced an intention to preclude a waiver of judicial remedies for the statutory right at issue. 
• The court held that claims under the ADEA were subject to resolution by actions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission aside from judicial resolution, and therefore, found that Congress did not intend to make the resolution of ADEA claims solely an issue for judicial review. 
• Petitioner failed to prove that the ADEA specifically precluded arbitration of ADEA claims, and therefore, the decision that the petitioner's claim was subject to arbitration was affirmed.

CONCLUSION
The court affirmed the judgment.

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