MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER The defendants-Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC-have moved to compel the plaintiff, John Lockette, to arbitrate his claims of racial discrimination and retaliation against them. At issue is whether the parties entered into a validly formed and enforceable arbitration agreement. For the reasons explained below, the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration and stay this case is granted.I.The following facts are undisputed except where noted.The plaintiff joined the defendants’ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania office in 2013 as a Regional Training Officer. Lockette Decl.5; Drever Decl.15. Upon joining the defendants’ firm, the plaintiff signed an offer letter, which made no mention of an arbitration agreement, and a “Form U4″ containing a predispute resolution clause explaining the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (“FINRA”) arbitration rules. See Drever Decl. Ex. 1; Glink Decl. Ex. K. As to employment discrimination, the form provided:A claim alleging employment discrimination…in violation of a statute is not required to be arbitrated under FINRA rules. Such a claim may be arbitrated at FINRA only if the parties have agreed to arbitrate it, either before or after the dispute arose. The rules of other arbitration forums may be different.Glink Decl. Ex. K.The defendants, however, had their own internal employee dispute resolution program entitled “CARE” (Convenient Access to Resolutions for Employees). Krentzman Decl.3. The iteration of CARE in effect when the plaintiff joined the defendants’ firm took effect in November 2009 and ran until June 2015. Id. This version of CARE and an explanatory guidebook were posted on the firm’s intranet site. Id. The intranet site was available to all employees and contained a variety of general-employment and human-resources information. Id. The guidebook explaining the 2009-2015 CARE program stated:If you are a current or former employee who was registered at any time during your employment with Morgan Stanley and you wish to pursue a statutory employment discrimination claim[,]…you may, (1) proceed to arbitration, through (a) the arbitration forums administered by JAMS or AAA, if Morgan Stanley agrees, or (b) a self-regulatory organization (SRO), such as FINRA, or (2) go to court. For all other employment claims, registered employees will continue to be required to submit their claims to binding arbitration as required by their Form U-4 Agreement.Id. Ex. 1 at 9-10. Therefore, registered employees had the option of pursuing employment discrimination claims through arbitration by various alternative-dispute-resolution services or by filing suit in court. The 2009-2015 CARE Guidebook also explained:Changes to CAREUpon notice, the terms of CARE may change or be discontinued. Any material changes made to CARE will be announced in advance of their effective dates and will then become equally binding upon you and the Firm. In the event of such a change, pending claims will be governed by the Program in effect at the time of filing of the Request for Mediation/Arbitration Form(s) with the Program Administrator.Id. Ex. 1 at 14.In 2015, the defendants announced that CARE would be expanded to make arbitration of all covered claims — including employment discrimination claims — mandatory for all employees, including registered employees; registered employees could no longer pursue covered claims in court. Id.4. Beginning on May 20, 2015, the defendants notified employees of the expansion of the CARE program through an email to each employee’s individualized work email account. Id.
4, 14. The emails were sent in waves, but the plaintiff was included in the first wave of emails, sent out on May 20, 2015. Id.
