Answer to Question 1
F
Answer to Question 2
Eric Baker was a short-order cook (grill operator) at Waffle House. When he was fired by the company after suffering a seizure at work, his own determination that such action was not right led him to the EEOC, where he was interviewed by an equal opportunity specialist and received help in filing a charge of discrimination under the ADA. There was no union steward to meet with at this non-union workplace to advise Mr. Baker about his rights under an arbitration agreement, nor was there an offer from any source to administer the pre-arbitration process on his behalf or to help him defray the costs of arbitration expenses. One conclusion is that Baker did not have the apparent means or ability to pursue statutory rights on his own in an arbitral forum. Moreover, the dissent's view seemed very hollow when the arbitration agreement turns out to be a take-it-or-leave-it contract of adhesion; the EEOC has responsibility under a public law to enforce the ADA; the EEOC itself was not a party to the arbitration agreement; and the enforcement of victim-specific relief by the EEOC would vindicate the public interest by seeking a make-whole remedy with punitive damages where the EEOC had determined after its fact-finding conference that reasonable cause existed that the statute was violated.
