District Court Decision

• The watchmen sued Pyatt for age discrimination in a separate lawsuit and were awarded a settlement by district court. Pyatt appealed the legality of the lawsuit; appeals courts denied Pyatt's claim based on the 1974 Alexander v. Gardner-Denver decision, which ruled that private civil rights-related litigation may be pursued in addition to related arbitration claims under a collective bargaining agreement. Pyatt reacted by appealing to the United States Supreme Court.
  
  

Supreme Court Decision

• The Supreme Court reversed the lower courts' decision by a vote of 5 to 4. They reasoned that the private lawsuit represented a case of double jeopardy since the union's collective bargaining agreement allowed the union to seek damages for the workers through arbitration. They determined that the Gardner-Denver decision is only valid for cases in which the collective bargaining agreement does not contain a specific clause for civil rights arbitration.
  
  

Significance

• The Penn Plaza vs. Pyatt decision is a blow to the right of employees to pursue private litigation for civil right related infringement. If a union collective bargaining agreement specifies terms of arbitration for civil rights claims, a private lawsuit may not be pursued.