Equal Employment Opp. Comm'n v. Waffle House

• Decision Date: 01 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-1502,CA-96-2739-3-10BC,98-1502
• Citation: 193 F.3d 805
• Parties: (4th Cir. 1999) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. WAFFLE HOUSE, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellant. (). . Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 805

193 F.3d 805 (4th Cir. 1999)

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. WAFFLE HOUSE, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 98-1502 (CA-96-2739-3-10BC).

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT.

Argued: March 1, 1999.

Decided: October 6, 1999.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia.

Matthew J. Perry, Jr., Senior District Judge.

COUNSEL ARGUED: Stephen Floyd Fisher, JACKSON, LEWIS, SCHNITZLER & KRUPMAN, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellant. Robert John Gregory, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Paul B. Lindemann, JACKSON, LEWIS, SCHNITZLER & KRUPMAN, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellant. C. Gregory Stewart, General Counsel, Philip B. Sklover, Associate General Counsel, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

Before NIEMEYER and KING, Circuit Judges, and LEE, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge Niemeyer wrote the opinion, in which Judge Lee joined. Judge King wrote a dissenting opinion.

OPINION

NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents the question of first impression in this circuit whether and to what extent the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), in prosecuting a suit in its own name, is bound by a private arbitration agreement between the charging party and his employer. Other circuits are split on the proper response to this question. Compare EEOC v. Kidder, Peabody & Co., 156 F.3d 298 (2d Cir. 1998) (holding that an arbitration agreement between a charging party and an employer precludes the EEOC from seeking purely monetary relief in federal court on behalf of the charging party but not from seeking broad injunctive relief), with EEOC v. Frank's Nursery & Crafts, Inc., 177 F.3d 448 (6th Cir. 1999) (holding that a private arbitration agreement does not affect the scope of the EEOC's federal court suit at all).

Recognizing that the EEOC is vested with enforcement authority both to seek broad-based injunctive relief in the public interest and to seek "make-whole" relief on behalf of a charging party, we conclude (1) that the EEOC cannot be compelled, by reason of an arbitration agreement between the charging party and his employer, to arbitrate its claims, but (2) that, to the extent that the EEOC seeks to obtain "make-whole" relief on behalf of a charging party who is subject to an arbitration agreement, it is precluded from seeking such relief in a judicial forum. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's decision to deny Waffle House's petition to compel arbitration generally and remand to the district court for consideration of the EEOC's claims in light of this opinion.

I

On June 23, 1994, Eric Baker, who was seeking employment, entered the Waffle House facility located at exit 113 of Interstate 26 in Columbia, South Carolina, and proceeded to fill out and sign an application for employment with Waffle House, Inc. He left blank the space on the application asking what position he sought. The application included a provision requiring the applicant to submit to binding arbitration "any dispute or claim concerning Applicant's employment with Waffle House, Inc., or any subsidiary or Franchisee of Waffle House, Inc., or the terms, conditions or benefits of such employment." Although the manager at that Waffle House facility, Lee Motlow, asked Baker whether he wanted the job there, Baker declined and instead, called the manager of a nearby Waffle House facility located at exit 110 of Interstate 26 in West Columbia, to whom Motlow had referred Baker.¹ The West Columbia Waffle House manager interviewed Baker and hired him to begin work two weeks later. Baker did not fill in another application and began work in the West Columbia facility on August 10, 1994, as a grill operator.

At his home, approximately two weeks later, Baker suffered a seizure, ostensibly caused by a change in the medication he was taking to control a seizure disorder that had developed as a result of a 1992 automobile accident. The next day, just after arriving for work, Baker suffered another seizure. Waffle House discharged Baker on September 5, 1994, stating in the separation notice that"We decided that for [Baker's] benefit and safety and Waffle House it would be best he not work any more."

Baker filed a charge with the EEOC, complaining that his discharge violated the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), and on September 9, 1996, the EEOC filed this enforcement action in its own name against Waffle House pursuant to § 107(a) of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12117(a), and § 102 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 1981a, alleging that Waffle House had engaged in "unlawful employment practices at its West Columbia, South Carolina, facility." The EEOC stated in its complaint that its purpose for filing the suit was "to correct unlawful employment practices on the basis of disability and to provide appropriate relief to Eric Scott Baker, who was adversely affected by such practices." It sought as relief (1) a permanent injunction barring Waffle House from engaging in employment practices that discriminate on the basis of disability; (2) an order that Waffle House institute and carry out anti-discrimination policies, practices, and programs to create opportunities and to eradicate the effects of past and present discrimination on the basis of disability; (3) backpay and reinstatement for Baker; (4) compensation for pecuniary and non- pecuniary losses suffered by Baker; and (5) punitive damages.

In response to the complaint, Waffle House filed a petition under the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"), 9 U.S.C.§ 1 et seq., to compel arbitration and to stay the litigation and, alternatively, to dismiss the action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The motion was referred to a magistrate judge who -relying on the undisputed record consisting of the complaint, answers to interrogatories, and affidavits filed in connection with the motion to compel arbitration -recommended to the district court that it conclude that Baker had entered into an arbitration agreement with Waffle House and that the EEOC was required to arbitrate the claims it filed on behalf of Baker. The district court, relying on the facts "extrapolated from the pleadings," disagreed with the magistrate judge's recommendations and denied each of Waffle House's motions, concluding that the arbitration provision contained in Baker's employment application was inapplicable because the West Columbia Waffle House facility, which ultimately hired Baker, had not hired him pursuant to his earlier application submitted at the Columbia Waffle House facility.

Waffle House filed this interlocutory appeal challenging the district court's denial of its petition to compel arbitration and to stay proceedings. See 9 U.S.C. § 16(a)(1). On appeal, it argues that (1) contrary to the district court's holding, a valid, enforceable arbitration agreement existed between Baker and Waffle House and (2) its motion to compel arbitration under § 4 of the FAA should be granted because the arbitration agreement between Baker and Waffle House binds the EEOC to "assert Baker's claim in an arbitral forum."

II

Because arbitration is a matter of contract, we must first determine whether an enforceable arbitration agreement governed Baker's employment with Waffle House. See Johnson v. Circuit City Stores, Inc., 148 F.3d 373, 377 (4th Cir. 1998). The district court concluded that the arbitration agreement in Baker's employment application did not govern his employment relationship with Waffle House because it was submitted to the Waffle House facility at exit 113 of Interstate 26 in Columbia, and Baker was not ultimately employed at that facility. When Baker later went to the Waffle House facility at exit 110 of Interstate 26 in West Columbia, he was given a job there without submitting another application. The court thus concluded, "it does not appear that Baker's acceptance of employment at the West Columbia Waffle House was made pursuant to the written application which included the agreement to arbitrate."

We disagree with the district court's analysis because it assumes that the two Waffle House facilities were legally distinct entities in this context. The employment application Baker completed was the standard form application for employment with the corporation Waffle House, Inc., and not with an individual Waffle House facility. Indeed, the manager at the Columbia Waffle House facility referred Baker to the manager at the West Columbia Waffle House facility. In filling out the application, Baker left blank the space provided on the form for listing specific positions applied for, and he specified no intent to limit the application to a particular location. Moreover, when Baker did begin work at the West Columbia facility, he did not fill out another application. It cannot be assumed that a national corporation like Waffle House hired an individual without gathering any of the requisite information, such as his proper name, address, social security number, age and other personal data, qualifications, and references, all of which were contained in the application Baker originally submitted at the Waffle House facility in Columbia.

Accordingly, the fact that Baker was ultimately employed at a different facility than the one at which he was physically present when he completed the application is immaterial to the applicability of the arbitration agreement. The generic, corporation-wide employment application completed and signed by Baker, and the arbitration provision it contained, followed Baker to whichever facility of Waffle House hired him. We thus conclude that Baker's application, when accepted by Waffle House, did form a...