## Facts

- Timothy R. Booker worked for Robert Half International, Inc. (RHI) from 1996 to 2001.
- Before employment, Booker signed an agreement requiring arbitration of employment-related disputes under AAA commercial rules.
- The agreement barred punitive damages in arbitration and included an express severability clause.
- Booker sued RHI for racial discrimination under the District of Columbia Human Rights Act (DCHRA), which authorizes punitive damages.
- RHI sought to compel arbitration based on the agreement.

## Issues

1. When an arbitration agreement covering statutory claims contains an unenforceable term limiting statutory remedies (a punitive-damages ban under the DCHRA), should a court refuse to enforce arbitration entirely or sever the unlawful term and compel arbitration?

## Decision

- The court affirmed the order compelling arbitration.
- The punitive-damages prohibition was unenforceable because it restricted remedies available under the DCHRA.
- The court severed the punitive-damages waiver under the contract’s severability clause and enforced the remainder of the arbitration agreement.
- Arbitration was compelled, with statutory remedies (including punitive damages) available in arbitration.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory claims may be arbitrated if the agreement does not require the claimant to surrender substantive statutory rights, including available remedies.
- When an arbitration agreement is otherwise valid, an unlawful remedial limitation may be severed—particularly where the contract contains an express severability clause—so that arbitration proceeds without the invalid restriction.
- Federal policy favoring arbitration supports enforcing the parties’ agreement to arbitrate to the maximum extent consistent with statutory rights.
- An isolated invalid provision does not void the entire arbitration clause absent a showing that illegality or unfairness pervades the arbitration agreement.

## Conclusion

The court held that an arbitration clause restricting DCHRA punitive damages was unenforceable as written, but the proper remedy was to sever the punitive-damages waiver and compel arbitration under the remaining, otherwise enforceable agreement.


Booker v. Robert Half Int'l, Inc., 413 F.3d 77 (D.C. Cir. 2005)