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Union-Negotiated Waivers Of An Employee's Federal Forum Rights To Statutory Claims: Are They An Effective Means To Exclusivity, Robert M. Smith

Missouri Law Review

Virtually every collective bargaining agreement provides for the use of labor arbitration in the event that the employer, and the union representing the employee, are unable to reach a mutually agreeable result.' However, even after Wright v. Universal Maritime Service Corp.,3 it remains unclear whether an agreement to arbitrate can require arbitration to be an individual employee's exclusive forum for federal statutory claims. This Note analyzes the United States Supreme Court holding in Wright, and also analyzes both the case law leading up to the Court's decision, and the existing split among the federal circuits as to whether union-negotiated waivers …