198 Conn. 479 | Conn. | 1986
This case concerns the scope of a trial court’s authority to modify, in contempt proceedings,
The underlying facts are undisputed. On June 14, 1977, Antoinette Mason filed a complaint of racial discrimination with the CHRO. After an investigation and a hearing, the CHRO hearing tribunal determined, on January 31,1980, that the DOHS had engaged in a pattern and practice of racial discrimination against Mason and had unlawfully denied her a promotion in favor of
The specific position to which Mason became entitled by virtue of the court order was that of assistant director, health laboratory division (public health chemistry and biophysics section). While judicial proceedings were pending, the title of this position, then held by Kapish, was changed to assistant director, health laboratory
During the contempt proceedings, in which Kapish was given intervenor status, the defendants sought to prove that the DOHS reorganization did not comply with the court order of September, 1982.
The CHRO and Mason, who filed separate appeals to this court, urge us to overturn the judgment of the trial court on a number of grounds. Both appellants maintain that the trial court erred : (1) in its construction of the September, 1982 court order; (2) in its factual findings about the appropriateness of the positions offered to Mason and to Kapish, and in the subsidiary evidentiary and procedural rulings that led to these factual findings; and (3) in its conclusion that the reorganization of the DOHS precluded appointment of Mason to the position specified in the 1982 court order. Mason argues, in addition, that the trial court erred in permitting Kapish to intervene as a party plaintiff. In light of our disposition of the case, these issues need not be specifically addressed.
Our starting point must be the well established principle that, even “[w]hen agency action is overturned . . . because of invalid or insufficient findings ... a court must ordinarily remand the matter under consideration to the agency for further consideration. Hartford v. Hartford Electric Light Co., 172 Conn. 71, 73, 372 A.2d 131 (1976); Bogue v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 165 Conn. 749, 753-54, 345 A.2d 9 (1974); Watson v. Howard, 138 Conn. 464, 470, 86 A.2d 67 (1952).” Feinson v. Conservation Commission, 180 Conn. 421, 429-30, 429 A.2d 910 (1980); see also Konigsberg v. State Bar of California, 366 U.S. 36, 43-44, 81 S. Ct. 997, 6 L. Ed. 2d 105 (1961); FCC v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co., 309 U.S. 134, 145, 60 S. Ct. 437, 84 L. Ed. 656 (1940). Remand for agency consideration is particularly appropriate, we have held, when the issue before the court is one raising important considerations of policy that the agency has not previously had the opportunity to consider. See Fellin v. Administrator, 196 Conn. 440, 450, 493 A.2d 174 (1985).
It is the CHRO that is charged with the primary responsibility of determining whether discriminatory practices have occurred and what the appropriate remedy for such discrimination must be. When a remedial order of the CHRO has been tested and validated through the judicial process, we hold today that such an order cannot be collaterally modified at the instance of a party resisting judicial enforcement of that order. Undeniably, a court adjudicating contempt proceedings must retain the authority to decide whether a remedial order is so vague and unclear that it is inappropriate to impose sanctions for disobedience of the order. See Adams v. Vaill, supra, 485-86; Labbadia v. Bailey, 147
Because the trial court’s decision that the DOHS was not in contempt resulted from an erroneous view of its authority to modify the express terms of the remedial order of September, 1982, its judgment cannot stand. We have often looked to federal employment discrimination law for guidance in enforcing our own anti-discrimination statute. See Civil Service Commission v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, 195 Conn. 226, 230, 487 A.2d 201 (1985); Wroblewski v. Lexington Gardens, Inc., 188 Conn. 44, 53, 448 A.2d 801 (1982); Pik-Kwik Stores, Inc. v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, 170 Conn. 327, 331, 365 A.2d 1210 (1976). The federal case law recognizes that appellate courts must inquire into the interpretative reasoning that led a trial court to conclude that a remedial order had not been violated. N.L.R.B. v. Warren Co., 350 U.S. 107, 110-13, 76 S. Ct. 185, 100 L. Ed. 96 (1955); Eaton v. Courtaulds of North America, Inc., 578 F.2d 87, 90-92 (5th Cir. 1978). When, as here, the trial court’s reasoning was erroneous, its conclusion that the questioned conduct did not constitute a contempt is equally erroneous and must be overturned despite the narrow scope of appellate review of contempt proceedings; see Potter v. Board of Selectmen, 174 Conn. 195, 197, 384 A.2d 369 (1978); Tobey v. Tobey, 165 Conn. 742, 746, 345 A.2d 21 (1974). In accordance with the
There is error, the judgment is set aside and the case is remanded to the trial court with direction to remand the case for further consideration by the commission on human rights and opportunities.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
At the time the complaint was filed, June 14, 1977, General Statutes § 31-127 (now amended as § 46a-82) provided: “Sec. 31-127. procedure. Any person claiming to be aggrieved by an alleged unfair employment practice may, by himself or his attorney, make, sign and file with the commission a complaint in writing under oath, which shall state the name and address of the person, employer, labor organization or employment agency alleged to have committed the unfair employment practice, and which shall set forth the particulars thereof and contain such other information as may be required by the commission. The commission, whenever it has reason to believe that any person has been engaged or is engaged in an unfair employment practice, may issue a complaint. Any employer whose employees, or any of them, refuse or threaten to refuse to comply with the provisions of this chapter may file with the commission a written complaint under oath asking for assistance by conciliation or other remedial action. The submission of a claim to the arbitration process shall not bar a person from filing a complaint under this chapter and, in considering such claim, the commission and the hearing tribunal may admit in evidence any decision resulting from such arbitration and accord it such weight as may be appropriate under the facts and circumstances of the case. After the filing of any complaint, the chairman of the commission shall refer the same to a commissioner or investigator to make investigation of such complaint and, if such commissioner or investigator determines after such investigation that there is reasonable cause for believing that an unfair employment practice has been or is being committed as alleged in such complaint he shall endeavor to eliminate the unfair employment practice complained of by conference, conciliation and persuasion. In the conduct of such investigation the commission may issue subpoenas requiring the production of employment records relating to the complaint under investigation. No commissioner or investigator shall disclose what has occurred in the course of such endeavors, provided the commission may publish the facts in the case and any complaint which has been dismissed and the terms of concilation when a complaint has been adjusted. In case of failure to eliminate such practice, the investigator or investigating commissioner shall certify the complaint and the results of his investigation to the chairman of the commission and to the attorney general. The chairman of the commission shall thereupon appoint a hearing tribunal of one member of the commission or one hearing examiner to hear such complaint and shall cause to be issued and
At the time the complaint was filed, General Statutes § 31-126 (a) (now amended as § 46a-60 [a] [1]) provided: “Sec. 31-126. unfair employment practices. It shall be an unfair employment practice (a) For an employer, by himself or his agent, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, because of the race, color, religious creed, age, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry or physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness of any individual, to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from employment such individual or to discriminate against him in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment.”
At the time the complaint was filed, General Statutes § 31-126 (d) (now amended as § 46a-60 [a] [4]) provided: “Sec. 31-126. unfair employment practices. It shall be an unfair employment practice . . . (d) For any person, employer, labor organization or employment agency to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person because he has opposed any unfair employment practice or because he has filed a complaint or testified or assisted in any proceeding under section 31-127.”
Although the remedial order included provisions in addition to Mason’s designation as assistant director, laboratory division (public health chemistry and biophysics section), these other aspects of the remedial order are not before us on the present appeals.
Relevant sections of the order dealing with the respective positions of Mason and Kapish provide:
“1. The complainant, Mrs. Mason, shall be appointed to the position of Assistant Director of the Laboratory Division (Public Health, Chemistry Biophysics Section). . . .
“8. In the event the respondent can properly transfer Ms. Kapish (if she is still employed by them) to a position of equal pay they shall do so except that at the respondents [sic] option it may continue Ms. Kapish at any other available position at the salary and with the benefits she would have received as assistant director.”
The defendants offered evidence of a substantial lack of equivalence between Mason’s new assistant directorship and the position to which she was to have been promoted. Because of objections by the plaintiff, the defendants were unable to offer evidence about alternate positions in the DOHS to which Kapish might have been appointed.
It is doubtful that, in the absence of a valid reorganization, the DOHS could have relied on the desirability of providing an appropriate position for Kapish as a defense in contempt proceedings for its failure to appoint Mason to the assistant directorship specifically designated in the September, 1982 court order. Although we held in Civil Service Commission v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, 195 Conn. 226, 230, 487 A.2d 201 (1985), on a direct appeal of a remedial order, that the victim of a discriminatory practice is not entitled to relief at the expense of innocent incumbent employees, that holding furnishes no basis for a collateral attack on a final judgment. Even if the original remedial order had erroneously failed to reconcile the designated position for Mason with its announced concern for Kapish, the DOHS was obligated to obey the order as specifically written, just as it would have been obligated to obey any other injunctive order issued by a court with jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties. Cologne v. Westfarms Associates, 197 Conn. 141, 147, 496 A.2d 476 (1985).