14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett

Pyett and other night watchmen and security workers (plaintiffs) worked at 14 Penn Plaza (defendant) under a collective-bargaining agreement between their union and an industry labor board. After the union consented, the defendant hired a different unionized security firm and reassigned the plaintiffs-the only building employees over 50-to less desirable jobs as night porters and cleaners. Believing this was age discrimination, the plaintiffs asked the union to grieve it, but the union withdrew the age-discrimination issue from arbitration. The plaintiffs then sued in federal court under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA); the defendant argued the agreement's arbitration clause required them to arbitrate instead.

Whether a provision in a collective-bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably requires union members to arbitrate ADEA claims is enforceable as a matter of federal law.