Wright v. Universal Maritime Service Corp., 525 U.S. 70, 8 (1998)

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  Next

Cite as: 525 U. S. 70 (1998)

Opinion of the Court

rights under Title VII are not susceptible of prospective waiver," 415 U. S., at 51-52, Gilmer held that the right to a federal judicial forum for an ADEA claim could be waived. Petitioner and the United States as amicus would have us reconcile the lines of authority by maintaining that federal forum rights cannot be waived in union-negotiated CBAs even if they can be waived in individually executed contracts—a distinction that assuredly finds support in the text of Gilmer, see 500 U. S., at 26, 35. Respondents and their amici, on the other hand, contend that the real difference between Gardner-Denver and Gilmer is the radical change, over two decades, in the Court's receptivity to arbitration, leading Gilmer to affirm that "questions of arbitrability must be addressed with a healthy regard for the federal policy favoring arbitration," 500 U. S., at 26 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); Gilmer, they argue, has sufficiently undermined Gardner-Denver that a union can waive employees' rights to a judicial forum. Although, as will appear, we find Gardner-Denver and Gilmer relevant for various purposes to the case before us, we find it unnecessary to resolve the question of the validity of a union-negotiated waiver, since it is apparent to us, on the facts and arguments presented here, that no such waiver has occurred.

III

In asserting the existence of an agreement to arbitrate the ADA claim, respondents rely upon the presumption of arbitrability this Court has found in § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 (LMRA), 61 Stat. 156, 29 U. S. C. § 185.1 See generally Steelworkers v. Enterprise

1 We have also discerned a presumption of arbitrability under the FAA, 9 U. S. C. §1 et seq. See Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473 U. S. 614, 626 (1985). Petitioner argued that the FAA

77

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007