Applebee's owner sued for mandating arbitration for employees

GULF COAST — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing Allendale, N.J.-based Doherty Enterprises, which owns many of the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants along the Gulf Coast.

The federal agency charged that Doherty's use of a mandatory arbitration agreement as a condition of employment interferes with those employees' right to file discrimination charges.

“When an employer forces all complaints about employment discrimination into confidential arbitration, it shields itself from federal oversight of its employment practices,” EEOC Regional Attorney Robert Weisberg says in a press release. “This practice violates the law, and the EEOC will take action to deter further use of these types of overly broad arbitration agreements.”

The EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and the case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra.

Last year, Doherty Enterprises purchased 35 Applebee's locations in Florida including 13 along the Gulf Coast in in Cape Coral, Estero, Fort Myers, Naples, North Port, Port Charlotte, Sarasota and Venice. For more on that purchase click here.