Lead Opinion
Melissa Renda, an inmate at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility, filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) alleging sexual harassment and retaliation in her employment and housing. The ICRC concluded it did not have jurisdiction to hear Renda’s complaint because the correctional facility was not a “dwelling,” and, as an inmate, Renda was not an “employee” for purposes of the Iowa Civil Rights Act (the Act). Renda sought judicial review, and the district court affirmed the decision of the ICRC. On appeal, we agree that a correctional facility is not a dwelling for purposes of the Act, but we conclude Renda’s status as an inmate working within the prison did not necessarily preclude her status as an employee. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
Melissa Renda filed a complaint with the ICRC on June 27, 2007. According to the complaint, Renda began working as a receiving and discharge clerk in November 2005 while she was incarcerated at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility. According to Renda, the clerk position was the most respected and highest paid job within the prison. Shortly after she started working in the receiving and discharge department, officer Jim Ackles, who also worked in the department, began making romantic overtures toward her. In addition to the sexual advances, Ackles also gave her gifts and money in violation of prison policy. At one point, he forced her to forge a property receipt to cover up the fact that he had given her a CD. Ackles threatened to have Renda transferred to the correctional institution in Mitchellville if she reported his conduct to prison authorities.
In June of 2006, Renda was approached by an investigator following up on an anonymous report of Ackles’ inappropriate behavior. Out of fear, Renda refused to talk to the investigator and was punished by being placed in solitary confinement for nine days. After getting out of solitary confinement, she returned to her job but was fired a few days later “on trumped up charges.” Eventually, Renda cooperated with the investigation into officer Ackles’ behavior, and when the investigation was closed, Renda was informed that she was “100% credible” and that her allegations were “founded.” Despite the results of the investigation, Renda became depressed about the ordeal and lost her “level 4 status” because she was irritable to others. She felt ostracized, and she was later denied a job in the recreation department because of the forged property receipt incident.
In her complaint filed with the ICRC, Renda claimed she was discriminated against on the basis of her sex and that she was retaliated against in the areas of employment and housing. The ICRC closed her complaint as “non-jurisdictional” because the complaint did “not allege a ‘discriminatory practice’ as defined by Iowa Code Chapter 216.” Specifically, the ICRC determined that an inmate is not considered an employee and a prison is not considered a dwelling under the Act.
Renda sought judicial review, and the district court affirmed the decision of the ICRC. Renda appeals.
Judicial review of an agency decision is controlled by the provisions of Iowa Code section 17A.19(10) (2009).
The parties disagree about whether subsection (c) or (0 applies to our review of ICRC’s interpretation of the terms “employee” and “dwelling” as used in the Act. Renda contends section 17A.19(10)(c) applies because the ICRC has not been clearly vested with the authority to interpret the Act, and accordingly, we are free to substitute our judgment for that of the ICRC. See Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(c). The ICRC argues subsection (l) applies because it has been vested with the authority to interpret the Act, and, as a result, we must defer to the agency’s interpretation and may only reverse if the interpretation is “irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable.” Id. § 17A.19(10)(Z).
We begin by noting that despite the parties’ articulation of the issue as whether the ICRC has the authority to interpret the Act, we do not view the issue so broadly. The focus of our inquiry is not whether the ICRC has the authority to interpret the entire Act. Rather, we must determine whether the interpretation of the specific terms “employee” and “dwelling” has been clearly vested in the discretion of the commission.
We have not addressed the standard of review of statutory interpretation by the ICRC subsequent to the amendment and clarification of chapter 17A in 1998. We addressed the standard of review of the ICRC’s interpretation of various provisions of the Act on several occasions before chapter 17A was amended. Unfortunately, however, many of our decisions from that period did not clearly articulate the standard of review applied in reviewing the commission’s statutory interpretations. In Good v. Iowa Civil Rights Commission,
[i]n reviewing- an administrative agency’s interpretation of a statute, this court may give some weight to the agency’s determination, but “the meaning of a statute is always a matter of law, and final construction and interpretation of Iowa statutory law is for this court.” Our review in this case, however, is not without its limited perimeters. Although construction of this statute is a function of the courts, we have always held that a reviewing court should give appropriate weight to the judgment of the agencies charged with the special duty of administering a particular statute.
Good,
The amendments to chapter 17A clarified when the court should give deference to an agency’s interpretation of law.
Normally, the interpretation of a statute is a pure question of law over which agencies are not delegated any special powers by the General Assembly so, a court is free to, and usually does, substitute its judgment de novo for that of the agency and determine if the agency interpretation of the statute is correct.... But, where the General Assembly clearly delegates discretionary authority to an agency to interpret or elaborate a statutory term based on the agency’s own special expertness, the court may not simply substitute its view as to the meaning or elaboration of the term for that of the agency but, instead, may reverse the agency interpretation or elaboration only if it is arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, or an abuse of discretion — a deferential standard of review.
Arthur E. Bonfield, Amendments to Iowa Administrative Procedure Act, Report on Selected Provisions to Iowa State Bar Association and Iowa State Government 62 (1998) [hereinafter Bonfield]. Notably, section 17A.10(c) does not require that the discretion be “expressly” vested in the agency, but instead uses the less restrictive term “clearly.”
This means that the reviewing court, using its own independent judgment and without any required deference to the agency’s view, must have a firm conviction from reviewing the precise language of the statute, its context, the purpose of the statute, and the practical considerations involved, that the legislature actually intended (or would have intended had it thought about the question) to delegate to the agency interpretive power with the binding force of law over the elaboration of the provision in question.
Id. at 63.
The question of whether interpretive discretion has clearly been vested in an agency is easily resolved when the agency’s enabling statute explicitly addresses the issue. For example, in Iowa Ass’n of School Boards v. Iowa Department of Education,
However, because the legislature does not usually explicitly address in legislation the extent to which an agency is authorized to interpret a statute, most of our cases involve an examination of the phrases or statutory provisions to be interpreted, their context, the purpose of the statute, and other practical considerations to determine whether the legislature intended to give interpretive authority to an
Our first occasion to examine whether an agency had been granted the authority to interpret a statute under the amended chapter 17A was City of Marion v. Iowa Department of Revenue & Finance,
We have reached similar conclusions in several more recent cases. In Auen v. Alcoholic Beverages Division,
Whether information is confidential is not informed by the expertise of the board, but rather focuses on the interests of the parties. The legislature did not give the board the discretion to determine what information is, and is not, confidential.
Our review of authorities on this subject has confirmed our belief that each case requires a careful look at the specific language the agency has interpreted as well as the specific duties and authority given to the agency with respect to enforcing particular statutes. It is generally inappropriate, in the absence of any explicit guidance from the legislature, to determine whether an agency has the authority to interpret an entire statutory scheme. As we have seen, it is possible that an agency has the authority to interpret some portions of or certain specialized language
We also think certain guidelines have become evident that may inform our analysis of whether the legislature has clearly vested interpretative authority with an agency. We note that when the statutory provision being interpreted is a substantive term within the special expertise of the agency, we have concluded that the agency has been vested with the authority to interpret the provisions. See City of Coralville,
Turning to the case at hand, we first note that the Act does not explicitly grant the agency the authority to interpret the terms “employee” and “dwelling.” We must then determine, after reviewing “the precise language of the statute, its context, the purpose of the statute, and the practical considerations involved,” if we are firmly convinced that “the legislature actually intended (or would have intended had it thought about the question) to delegate to the agency interpretive power with the binding force of law over the elaboration” of the terms. Bonfield at 63.
We are not convinced the legislature intended to vest the ICRC with authority to interpret the terms at issue here. Both terms have specialized legal meaning and are widely used in areas of law other than the civil rights arena. The fact that the parties rely on definitions of these terms from various other substantive areas of law indicates the interpretation of these terms is not within the special expertise of the ICRC. The commission itself, when defining the terms and rejecting Renda’s claims, relied on definitions of the terms gleaned from other areas of law, including Iowa workers’ compensation statutes, Iowa unemployment compensation statutes, statutes pertaining to the department of corrections, the Federal Fair Housing Act, Federal Cable Communications Act, and Colorado penal statutes. Given the commission’s need to examine such far-ranging legal sources to interpret these terms, we are not convinced that “employee” and “dwelling” are specialized terms within the expertise of the agency. Rather, these terms have specialized legal definitions that extend beyond the civil rights context and are more appropriately interpreted by the courts. Accordingly, we do not give deference to the agency’s interpretation and will substitute our judgment for that of the commission if we conclude the ICRC
III. Discussion.
The ICRC concluded it did not have jurisdiction over Renda’s complaint because it did “not allege a ‘discriminatory practice’ as defined by Iowa Code Chapter 216.” Specifically the commission determined that a prison is not a “dwelling” and an inmate is not an “employee” for purposes of the Act. Renda claims both of these conclusions constitute errors of law, and we will review each in turn.
A. Is a Prison a “Dwelling”? The Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of a person’s sex with respect to housing. Iowa Code §§ 216.8, 216.8A. The terms “real property,” “housing,” “housing accommodation,” and “dwelling” are used in the various statutory provisions to describe the type of facilities to which the prohibition applies. Id. These terms, however, are not defined in the statute. When interpreting statutory provisions, we utilize our well-established rules of statutory construction. We “ ‘avoid strained, impractical or absurd results.’” Sommers,
The ICRC determined that a prison is not a dwelling by relying on a decision from a federal district court ease which determined that a jail was not a dwelling for purposes of the Fair Housing Act. While interpretations of the Fair Housing
Renda directs us to various federal cases which interpret what constitutes a dwelling for purposes of the Fair Housing Act. She argues the term “dwelling” has been interpreted broadly to include a wide range of nontypical residences. The types of facilities that have been determined to constitute dwellings for purposes of the Fan-Housing Act range from substance abuse treatment facilities to nursing homes, homeless shelters, hospices, and residential schools. See, e.g., Lakeside Resort Enters. v. Bd. of Supervisors,
Renda argues the key to determining whether a facility is a dwelling under the Act is whether the person intends to remain at the facility for more than a brief period of time and whether the person considers the facility a residence to which he or she will return. She argues her residence at the prison is analogous to other residential facilities in that she considers her cell her residence, she returns to it each night, and her stay at the prison is for more than a brief period of time. She claims that facilities that have been found not to constitute dwellings under the Fair Housing Act, such as motels and bed and breakfasts, are distinguishable from the prison on these same grounds. See Schneider v. County of Will,
Although an inmate such as Renda may consider her cell, and the prison as a whole, her indefinite residence and expect to remain in the prison for an extended length of time, we do not believe those considerations are determinative of whether a prison is a dwelling for purposes of the Act. We agree with the conclusion reached by the court in Garcia v. Condarco,
B. May an Inmate Be an “Employee”? The Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in employment. Iowa Code § 216.6. An employee is defined broadly as “any person employed by an employer.” Id. § 216.2(6). Employer is defined as “the state of Iowa or any political subdivision, board, commission, department, institution, or school district thereof, and every other person employing employees within the state.” Id. § 216.2(7). Several categories of employers and employees are exempted from the discrimination prohibitions, including employers of fewer than four employees, employees who work within the employer’s home, employees hired to perform personal services for the employer’s family members, and bona fide religious institutions in certain situations. Id. § 216.6(6)(a )-(d). No explicit exception exists for inmates of correctional facilities — in fact, inmates are not mentioned at all in the statute. Given the sheer breadth of the definitions of “employee” and “employer” and the fact that the few exclusions that are identified are extremely narrow, we are inclined to start from the premise that inmates may be considered employees unless some compelling reason exists to convince us that the legislature meant to exclude them despite utilizing such expansive language.
The ICRC, relying on a 1990 opinion of the Attorney General, concluded that
[a]n inmate is not an “employee” within the meaning of the Iowa Civil Rights Act if employed by the State or subdivision of the State but may be an “employee” within the meaning of the statute if employed through the work release or prison industry programs by employers who are otherwise subject to the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
The ICRC and the Attorney General’s opinion noted that in other worker-related contexts inmates are treated differently and concluded that they should also be treated differently in the civil rights context. See 1990 Iowa Op. Att’y Gen. 93 (Opinion No. 90-10-3); Iowa Code § 86.59 (explicitly addressing modified workers’ compensation coverage for inmates); Iowa Code § 96.19(18)(gf )(10) (providing explicit exception to unemployment compensation coverage for inmates of correctional institutions). The ICRC contends that these explicit exceptions to other worker-related programs demonstrate that inmates are considered differently from other groups. We, however, believe these explicit exceptions for inmates demonstrate the legislature is well aware that many inmates work within correctional settings and that certain worker-related provisions may apply to them unless they are expressly excluded or exempted. The fact that the legislature did not provide an explicit exception for inmates within the Act leads us to believe that the legislature did not intend one.
The ICRC also points to certain provisions of chapter 904 which indicate an employee-employer relationship is not created when an inmate performs work for the prison. Section 904.701 provides inmates shall be required to perform hard labor while incarcerated. Iowa Code § 904.701(1). When practicable, the director may pay the inmate “an allowance” deemed “proper in view of the circumstances, and in view of the cost attending the maintenance of the inmate. The allowance is a gratuitous payment and is not a
[a]n inmate employed in the community under this chapter is not an agent, employee, or involuntary servant of the department of corrections, the board of parole, or the judicial district department of correctional services while released from confinement under the terms of a work release plan. If an inmate suffers an injury arising out of or in the course of the inmate’s employment under this chapter, the inmate’s recovery shall be from the insurance carrier of the employer of the project and no proceedings for compensation shall be maintained against the insurance carrier of the state institution, the state, the insurance carrier of the judicial district department of correctional services or the judicial district department of correctional services, and there is no employer-employee relationship between the inmate and the state institution, the board of parole, or the judicial district department of correctional services.
Id. § 904.906.
The ICRC contends these provisions demonstrate the legislature’s intent to ex-elude inmates from the definition of “employee.” We disagree because we do not believe the cited provisions in chapter 904 are determinative of the issue. We think the focus of section 904.701(2) is pay-related, intended to clarify the discretionary nature of the payment — that it need only be made at the director’s discretion when “practicable” and should take into account the cost of the maintenance of the inmate. Id. § 904.701(2). In other words, an inmate working at hard labor is not entitled to earn “a fair and reasonable wage” as that concept might be defined outside the prison context.
Both parties cite various federal decisions interpreting Title VII, including several cases involving inmates at federal correctional facilities. Because the Act was modeled after Title VII, we find these decisions instructive, but not controlling. Annear v. State,
However, the court in Baker v. McNeil Island Corrections Center,
The Act was adopted “to eliminate unfair and discriminatory practices in ... employment.” 1965 Iowa Acts ch. 121 (title of act). It was designed to “correct a broad pattern of behavior rather than merely affording a procedure to settle a specific dispute.” Estabrook v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm’n,
Prison is in many ways a society separate from the outside world. Discrimination, however, maintains the same invidious character within the world of the prison and outside of it. Given the broad policies behind Title VII, there would appear to be no reason to withhold Title VII’s protections from extending inside the prison walls.
Vanskike v. Peters,
To assist in determining the similarities between jobs inside and outside the prison, we think it may also be useful to consider how other courts have distinguished between employees and independent contractors for purposes of Title VII. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has explained that when confronted with the issue, “nearly every appellate court has applied a test described as a hybrid of the common-law test and economic realities test.”
application of general principles of the law of agency to undisputed or established facts. Consideration of all the circumstances surrounding the work relationship is essential, and no one factor is determinative. Nevertheless, the extent of the employer’s right to control the “means and manner” of the worker’s performance is the most important factor to review here, as it is at common law.... If an employer has the right to control and direct the work of an individual, not only as to the result to be achieved, but also as to the details by which that result is achieved, an employer/employee relationship is likely to exist.
Spirides v. Reinhardt,
Additional factors relevant for consideration include
(1) The kind of occupation, with reference to whether the work usually is done under the direction of a supervisor or is done by a specialist without supervision; (2) the skill required in the particular occupation; (3) whether the “employer” or the individual in question furnishes the equipment used and the place of work; (4) the length of time during which the individual has worked; (5) the method of payment, whether by time or by job; (6) the manner in which the work relationship is terminated, i.e., by one or both parties, with or without notice and explanation; (7) whether annual leave is afforded; (8) whether the work is an integral part of the business of the “employer”; (9) whether the worker accumulates retirement benefits; (10) whether the “employer” pays social security taxes; and (11) the intention of the parties.
Id. at 832.
Although Renda has not asserted a workers’ compensation claim in this case, this court has addressed the standard for determining whether a worker is employed for purposes of chapter 85 of the Iowa
Although a few of the factors considered in determining whether an employer-employee relationship exists in the Title VII and workers’ compensation contexts may not be applicable in the prison setting, we think most of them are useful and relevant in assessing the similarities between jobs inside and outside the prison, and in determining whether an inmate claiming a violation of chapter 216 is an employee protected under the Act.
Although Renda asserts on appeal that the circumstances of her prison job bring her comfortably within the definition of “employee,” because the ICRC refused to entertain jurisdiction over her claim, the record does not contain evidence sufficient to allow us to address the issue on appeal.
IV. Conclusion.
We affirm the determination of the district court that the ICRC did not err in determining that the housing provisions of the Act do not apply to inmates housed in a correctional facility. We conclude the ICRC erred in deciding as a matter of law that an inmate could not be considered an employee for purposes of the Act. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part the district court’s judgment and remand to the district court for remand to the ICRC for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND CASE REMANDED.
Notes
. Unless otherwise noted, all statutory citations are to the current version of the Iowa Code.
. However, despite the abundance of authority concluding an agency with the authority to enforce a specific statute and with rulemaking authority has been clearly vested with the authority to interpret specialized terms and provisions within the subject matter statute, we reached the opposite result in Mycogen Seeds v. Sands,
[w]e see nothing in the workers’ compensation statutes that convinces us that the legislature has delegated any special powers to the agency regarding its interpretation of ... statutes. So the agency’s interpretation has not “clearly been vested by a provision of law in the discretion of the agency.”
P.D.S.I.,
. We think it appropriate to note at this juncture the maxim occasionally expressed in this court’s prior decisions that we give deference to an agency’s statutory interpretation "in areas of the agency's expertise.” See PanDa Eng’g v. Eng’g & Land Surveying Examining Bd.,
. This provision might be relevant to a determination of whether inmates may be considered employees entitled to fair wages under Iowa minimum wage laws or the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. However, because Renda's claim alleges employment discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act, not unfair pay, we do not find this provision applicable to our analysis.
. Compare the provisions regarding payment for hard labor with the provisions addressing payment to inmates participating in the work release program. The inmate employed in the community pursuant to the work release program shall be paid a fair and reasonable wage for his work. Iowa Code § 904.905. After certain deductions are taken from the wages (for obligations such as child support, restitution, the cost of food and lodging), the balance of the wages will be held for the inmate until his release. Id.
. The common-law test was first set forth in Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid,
. As Renda has not made a claim based on Iowa Code chapter 85, we do not address the provisions of Iowa Code section 85.59 detailing the circumstances in which inmates may receive workers’ compensation benefits. We cite our decisions detailing the standard for determining whether an employer-employee relationship exists in the workers’ compensation context not because that standard is controlling in this case, but to emphasize its similarity with the standard applied in the Title VII cases cited above.
. Renda’s complaint merely states that she "started working as a R&D (Receiving & Discharge) Clerk” and does not provide any background on her application process or whether she was required to work in that position. Later, after she was terminated from the R&D position, she states she "was denied a job at the Recreation Department because of the [property sheet forging] incident.” This allegation implies she may have gone through an application process for the second job, but we still believe the record must be developed.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from that portion of the holding of the majority declaring a prison inmate is an employee of the State of Iowa entitled to seek relief under the Iowa Civil Rights Act from discriminatory practices while performing a regularly as
At the outset, I acknowledge discrimination exists in prisons as it still does in society in general. Moreover, a prison setting in no way excuses the presence of discrimination. Yet, the question is not whether the overarching policies behind the enactment of Iowa’s civil rights act pertaining to employment discrimination apply to prisons, but whether the legislature intended for the provisions to apply to prisoners engaged in regularly assigned labor. The majority has failed to properly analyze this question and, accordingly, has answered it incorrectly.
The majority first rejects the Iowa Civil Rights Commission’s interpretation by finding the legislature did not give the commission the power to interpret the meaning of an “employee” under the act. Yet, this conclusion simply aligns the standard of judicial review on appeal. The majority may not be required to give the commission’s interpretation- deference, but courts may nevertheless utilize all agency interpretations as a helpful tool in conducting independent analysis. See PanDa Eng’g v. Eng’g & Land Surveying Examining Bd.,
More importantly, the majority builds its decision on two false premises that have no foundation in law or logic. These false premises are responsible for the majority’s faulty conclusion. The majority begins its analysis with the premise that the word “employee” is a broad term and, therefore, must include prison inmates unless there is a “compelling reason” to the contrary. This homespun principle has no support in the law and is totally contrary to our long-standing rule of statutory interpretation that, when a statute does not provide a helpful definition of a disputed term, courts should not imply a meaning that is broader than the common-law definition. See Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v. Darden,
The majority next declares, again, without any authority, that the absence of a statutory exception for prison inmates in chapter 216 signals that the legislature intended to include prison inmates within the parameters of chapter 216. This premise totally misses the point of our applicable rules of interpretation and sinks an already distressed analysis.
Under our principles of statutory interpretation, an exception to a statute created by the legislature normally indicates the matter excepted would have been included in the statute absent the exception. River Bend Farms, Inc. v. M & P Mo. River Levee Dist.,
Under our accepted rules of interpretation, we must accept that our legislature does not include inmates in matters relating to employment without special rules for inclusion. The approach of the majority is contrary to the weight of our rules of interpretation and the clear intent of our legislature.
Lastly, the majority places a great amount of emphasis on the Baker case. Baker v. McNeil Island Corr. Ctr.,
Notwithstanding, the multifactor test ultimately adopted by the majority is misplaced as a means to decide if inmates performing mandated labor within the walls of a prison for no wage are employees. See Iowa Code § 904.701 (indicating all inmates are required to perform, labor
The majority has analyzed the issue in this case without following our rules of interpretation and has reached a conclusion that is clearly contrary to the intent of our legislature. For that reason, I respectfully dissent. Our role of interpreting statutes is too important to take the approach followed by the majority.