528 N.E.2d 1303 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1987
This is an appeal from the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas. In the proceedings below, the trial court heard appellant Vincent Salazar's appeal from a final order of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (hereinafter "commission"). See R.C.
On September 6, 1984, appellant, his union, and Mather reached an agreement concerning both the treatment of appellant's alcoholism and the terms of reinstatement to his employment. Mather agreed to reinstate appellant upon "* * * his successful completion of the hospital's recommended treatment * * *." Appellant was admitted to the Toledo Hospital's Alcohol Treatment Center, but was given a "maximum treatment benefit" discharge before completing the program. The hospital cited appellant's negative and unproductive behavior, as well as his failure to make any progress toward treatment goals, as the reasons for the discharge. Subsequently, appellant was denied reinstatement at Mather. Appellant then filed a charge of unlawful handicap discrimination against Mather with the commission.
The commission conducted a preliminary investigation of appellant's charge. See R.C.
"1. The lower court erred in applying the standard of review of arbitrary, capricious and unlawful to the no probable cause finding of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission rather than the statutorily mandated standard of reliable, probative, and substantial evidence."
The trial court ruled that the commission's final order was not unlawful, irrational, and/or arbitrary and capricious. In so ruling, the court was guided by McCrea v. Ohio Civil RightsComm. (1984),
We hold that the trial court did not err by applying the unlawful, irrational, and/or arbitrary and capricious standard of review to the commission's final order. We further hold that the trial court did not err by ruling that said order was not unreasonable, irrational, and/or arbitrary and capricious. Accordingly, appellant's first assignment of error is not well-taken.
"2. The lower court erred in affirming the no probable cause finding of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission because the finding was not adequately supported by the evidence.
"3. The lower court erred in holding that the plaintiff's handicap was reasonably accommodated by a labor union agreement between appellant and the Mather Company."
Essentially, appellant argues that Mather had a duty to show that it had attempted to make a reasonable accommodation to his handicap. Appellant argues that the commission failed to determine whether Mather had attempted to make such an accommodation and that the trial court, in the absence of any such determination by the commission, had no basis upon which to affirm said decision. Appellant further argues that the agreement among appellant, his union, and Mather does not, in and of itself, constitute evidence of an attempt by Mather to reasonably accommodate his handicap.
Alcoholism is a handicap as defined by R.C.
Our reading of R.C.
We have held that the trial court did not err by ruling that the commission's finding of no probable cause to believe that appellant's employment was terminated on the basis of his handicap was not unreasonable, irrational, and/or arbitrary and capricious. Based upon the foregoing, we find appellant's *29 second and third assignments of error to be not well-taken.
"4. The lower court erred in its holding that appellant was afforded adequate due process protections under the Ohio Civil Rights Commission regulations."
Appellant argues that the Due Process Clause of the
We are presented with the following question: "Did the administrative rules followed by the commission at the preliminary investigation stage, which concededly do not provide for an adversary-oriented, evidentiary hearing, violate the
The trial court found that appellant's right to file a charge of handicap discrimination against Mather was "* * * a species of property protected by the
As we have noted, appellant contends that the rules governing the commission's investigation of his charge failed to provide him with an opportunity to make his case at an evidentiary hearing. Appellant contends that he has been deprived of his procedural due process rights, and relies on Mathews v. Eldridge
(1976),
We disagree, and hold that the Mathews test becomes relevant only if the second part of what the United States Supreme Court has described as a two-part inquiry is first reached. In Logan,
the court analyzed the private party's
Appellant has appeared to argue that he has a protected property interest in being able to present his charge of handicap discrimination against Mather to the commission in the context of an adversary-oriented, evidentiary hearing, and that he has been deprived of due process of law by not being able to do so. If this is appellant's argument, it is without merit. As the United States Supreme Court has noted, "[t]he hallmark of property * * * is an individual entitlement grounded in state law, which cannot be removed except for `just cause.'" (Citations omitted.) Logan,supra, at 430. Ohio law has not conferred upon appellant an individual entitlement to an adversary-oriented, evidentiary hearing at the preliminary investigation stage of his handicap discrimination charge. Under such a circumstance as this, the United States Supreme Court has held that there is no basis upon which to invoke the protections accorded to "property" under the
R.C.
"* * * [T]he commission may initiate a preliminary investigation. * * * If it determines after such investigation that it is not probable that unlawful discriminatory practices have been or are being engaged in, it shall notify the complainant that it has so determined and that it will not issue a complaint in the matter. * * *"
The commission had the discretion to decide whether even to initiate a preliminary investigation of appellant's charge, and could have passed upon it without initiating such an investigation. State, ex rel. Westbrook, v. Ohio Civil RightsComm. (1985),
"Prior to the filing of a complaint, the procedure set out in the statute is informal and in the nature of an ex parte
proceeding. Although the commission investigates the charge, it does not seek to receive formal evidence. Unlike the procedure set forth for a post-complaint formal hearing, R.C.
"* * *
"R.C.
Appellant's arguments, obviously, are rooted in his deep dissatisfaction with the commission's administrative rules at the preliminary investigation stage. R.C.
In summary, we have held that the commission has not established adjudicatory procedures entitling appellant to be heard at an adversary-oriented, evidentiary hearing on his charge of handicap discrimination against Mather. Since there is no such entitlement, and hence no interest susceptible of protection under the Due Process Clause of the
Judgment affirmed.
RESNICK and GLASSER, JJ., concur.