Second Circuit – Arbitration: In re IBM Arbitration Agreement Litigation

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Arbitration

Age Discrimination in Employment Act – Piggybacking rule

In re IBM Arbitration Agreement Litigation

22-1728-cv

Judges Pooler, Wesley, and Park

Background: Twenty-six former employees of IBM signed separation agreements requiring them to arbitrate any claims arising from their termination. The agreements set a deadline and included a confidentiality requirement. The plaintiffs missed the deadline but tried to arbitrate claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which were dismissed as untimely. They sued seeking a determination that the deadline is unenforceable because it did not incorporate the piggybacking rule, a judge-made exception to the ADEA’s administrative-exhaustion requirements. The plaintiffs appealed from the dismissal of their complaint.

Ruling: The Second Circuit affirmed. The court held that the piggybacking rule does not apply to arbitration and is not a substantive right under the ADEA. The court also held that the presumption of public access to judicial documents is outweighed by the Federal Arbitration Act’s policy in favor of enforcing arbitral confidentiality provisions and the impropriety of counsel’s attempt to evade the agreement by attaching confidential documents to a premature motion for summary judgment.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, for the plaintiffs-appellants; Traci L. Lovitt, of Jones Day, for the defendant-appellee.