Second Circuit Reverses Denial Of Individual Arbitration In Title VII Class Action

Keywords: Arbitration, AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, Chen-Oster v. Goldman Sachs, D. Mass., employment, Karp v. Cigna Healthcare, Parisi v. Goldman Sachs & Co., Second Circuit, Title VII

Since Concepcion, the plaintiffs' bar has been exhorting courts to recognize exceptions to its holding that courts may not refuse to enforce an arbitration agreement on the ground that it precludes class actions. In the employment context, the plaintiffs' bar thought that it had a winner with Chen-Oster v. Goldman Sachs, in which a magistrate judge concluded (and a district court agreed) that Title VII bars enforcement of such agreements when the named plaintiff seeks to rely on "pattern-or-practice" evidence of discrimination. Last week, however, the Second Circuit reversed Chen-Oster and closed the loophole in Parisi v. Goldman, Sachs & Co. (pdf).