District Judge Ronnie Abrams

From July 2013 through June 2016 Moise worked as a “store supervisor/shelf-stocker” at a Family Dollar store in the Bronx. Claiming he worked an average of 90 hours weekly without receiving overtime compensation he sued Family Dollar on Aug. 9, 2016 for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act's and New York Labor Law's overtime provisions. The court granted Family Dollar's motion to compel arbitration pursuant to the arbitration agreement contained in its “Open Door & Arbitration at Family Dollar” course in the Family Dollar University online employee training program. Family Dollar's records showed Moise received, reviewed, and acknowledged the arbitration agreement on Sept. 28, 2013 and also completed the Open Door and Arbitration course on Oct. 11, 2013. Along with his other arguments, Moise's claim that he signed any arbitration agreement under “economic duress or coercion” failed. Moise signed the arbitration agreement in September 2013 but worked at Family Dollar until June 2016. He did not claim he repudiated the agreement in the interim, nor explained his three years' silence. Thus Moise affirmed the arbitration agreement and could not avoid its binding effects under the doctrine of economic duress or coercion.