Bargaining Over Arbitration of Bias Claims

In 1995, Northwest Airlines added a clause that would require mandatory arbitration of employment discrimination claims to its "Conditions of Employment" agreement [to be signed by] all newly hired pilots. Northwest rejected the Airline Pilots: Association's (ALPA) demand that it stop requiring pilots' signatures on the agreement. ALPA filed suit alleging violations of the Railway Labor Act based on Northwest's unilateral addition of the arbitration clause, which ALPA claimed was a mandatory subject of collective bargaining.

The US. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's 1974 Alexander vs. Gardner-Denver Co. decision that individual rights under Title VII cannot be bargained away by the union.

The court held that because arbitration of individual statutory claims is not a mandatory subject of collective bargaining, Northwest was free to bargain with individual employees over its arbitration clause. Airline Pilots Association vs. Northwest Airlines Inc., D.C. Cir., No. 98-7196, 12/28/99.

Impact: Under the Railway Labor Act, which governs the railroad and airline industries, employers may bargain with individual employees over arbitration of employment discrimination claims despite union objections. This decision may not necessarily apply to cases under the National Labor Relations Act.

D. Diane Hatch, Ph.D., is a human resources consultant based in San Francisco. James E. Hall is an attorney with the law firm of Barlow, Kobata and Denis, with offices in Los Angeles and Chicago.

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