361 Mass. 352 | Mass. | 1972
Edward A. Janasz (the complainant) filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (Commission) against the School Committee of Chicopee alleging that he was denied employment as a teacher solely because of age. After hearing, the Commission ruled that the school committee discriminated against the complainant on acount of age and
The Commission made several findings of fact. It found that the complainant was forty-nine years of age, that he held degrees in the fields of business and education, that he was certified to teach in Massachusetts and that he had been a teacher of business courses in the Chicopee school system from 1955 through 1959. The Commission also found that, after a period of further education and other employment, the complainant, in 1962, applied for an administrative assistant’s position and a teaching position in the Chicopee system.
The Commission further found that until August, 1964, the superintendent of the Chicopee public schools was unaware of the existence of G. L. c. 151B, §§ 4, 5, as those sections pertain to discrimination on account of age, that during the period of time in which the complainant made application for a teaching position, the superintendent had in at least a few instances circled the age of applicants on application forms, that the Chicopee school committee had considered the age of applicants in determining whether or not it would recommend that a particular applicant be hired and that in April, 1964, one Barbara Jean Grabiec, twenty-four years of age, was hired to teach business courses in the Chicopee school system.
Finally, the Commission found that at the time the complainant left the Chicopee school system in 1959, he was in good standing and was considered a highly qualified teacher of business courses, that between the time he left the system in 1959 and reapplied in 1962, no official of the Chicopee system had an opportunity to observe the complainant’s classroom teaching and that from April, 1962, to the time of the hearing there were teaching positions available in which the complainant was qualified to teach.
General Laws c. 30A, § 11 (8), inserted by St. 1954,
In our view, the case must be remanded to the Commission for further findings of fact. As observed above, the statute governing administrative procedures such as those involved here requires that a determination be made as to each issue of fact and law necessary to the administrative agency’s ultimate decision. While the Commission did make certain findings of fact in this case, our review of the transcript indicates that several issues of fact presented to the Commission and bearing on its ultimate decision were not made the subject of specific findings by the Commission.
For example, there was documentary evidence that a substantial number of individuals over forty years of age were hired as teachers by the Chicopee school committee between the years 1960 and 1965. There was also evidence that in 1962, the principal of the Chicopee High School rated the complainant below average in terms of responsibility, initiative and leadership and that these ratings were considered by the superintendent in passing on the complainant’s application for employment. There was further evidence that the principal of the only other high school in Chicopee, the Chicopee Comprehensive High School, informed the superintendent that Miss Grabiec was a better teacher for the particular position than the complainant because Miss Grabiec was “a very flexible type of person ... a person who can teach a variety of subjects.”
We recognize that where the evidence is conflicting, the administrative agency is charged with the responsibility of making findings of fact and is in the best position to judge the credibility of the witnesses. G. L. c. 30A, § 11
The final decree is reversed and a new decree is to enter remanding the case to the Commission for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
So ordered.