A former tax supervisor at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom will have to arbitrate claims that the firm fired him in retaliation for his complaints about racial discrimination, a federal judge has ruled.
Southern District of New York Judge Michael Mukasey said former Skadden employee Jonathan Jung had signed a valid arbitration agreement as a condition of his employment at the firm, and the agreement continued to apply even though Skadden had taken some steps to litigate the matter. Jung had argued that the law firm waived its right to arbitration when it moved last June to dismiss his suit, which was filed in April 2005, and was now seeking to relitigate that motion. But Mukasey rejected Jung’s characterization of events, noting that Skadden’s motion had been resolved by Jung’s filing an amended complaint. Because that complaint now governed, the judge said in Jung v. Skadden Arps, 05 Civ. 4286, Jung could not claim he would suffer prejudice from having the case go to arbitration.
