Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp.: Observations on an Expanded Role for the Labor Arbitrator
Seymour Strongin
Andrew M. Strongin
DOI: 10.2190/TEVF-LP7M-T8RW-WA8D
Abstract
The Supreme Court's decision in Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. potentially signifies an expanded role for the labor arbitrator in the resolution of employment-related claims. Under the Steelworkers trilogy, labor arbitrators' expertise was perceived as being limited to matters of the shop, and so labor arbitrators' authority was limited by the Court to those areas. By compelling the arbitration of Gilmer's Age Discrimination in Employment (ADEA) claim, the Court firmly embraced an increased respect for the expertise of arbitrators, and signalled a willingness to depart from the limitations imposed by the Steelworkers trilogy on the role of labor arbitrators. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.