Torrez

I

In the published portion of this opinion, we are asked to determine whether an employee may be compelled to arbitrate a statutory discrimination claim under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.) where the employee’s union has entered into a collective bargaining agreement with the employer to arbitrate all employment-related claims. In Austin v. Owens-Brockway Glass Container, Inc. (4th Cir. 1996) 78 F.3d 875 (Austin), a divided court held that an arbitration provision in a collective bargaining agreement was enforceable with respect to an employee’s statutory discrimination claims. Since Austin , virtually every court that has considered the issue has disagreed. In lengthy analyses, these courts have explained that the Austin majority misinterpreted the United States Supreme Court precedents, Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. (1991) 500 U.S. 20 [ 111 S.Ct. 1647 , 114 L.Ed.2d 26 ] (Gilmer) and Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co. (1974) 415 U.S. 36 [ 94 S.Ct. 1011 , 39 L.Ed.2d 147 ] (Gardner-Denver), upon which it based its holding. As we shall explain, we join the growing chorus of cases rejecting Austin's reasoning. Accordingly,…