260 A.2d 889 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1969
This is an appeal from an order of the civil rights commission dismissing the plaintiff's complaint that the defendant General Motors Corporation had discriminated against her in violation of §
The appeal alleges that the commission on April 7, 1967, "dismissed for lack of evidence" plaintiff's complaint and on May 17, 1967, denied reconsideration "for lack of sufficient and substantial reason for granting" such request. The relief requested by the amended appeal is an order vacating and setting aside the order of the commission or, in the alternative, modifying the commission's order "so that New Departure Division is ordered to reinstate the petitioner as an employee, not to require her to work on her Sabbath, and to pay her back wages." It is the plaintiff's claim that the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, chapter 563 of the General Statutes, requires the defendant General Motors to allow her to absent herself from work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. It is *343
apparent that plaintiff's broad claim is that all Connecticut employers must allow any of their employees to absent themselves from their regularly assigned work at any time such employees base their absences on their religious convictions. Section
At the hearing on April 8, 1969, there was submitted to the court by counsel for the commission a file of documents which it was represented constituted the entire record of the commission pursuant to plaintiff's complaint, and it has been agreed by all parties that that submission can be considered compliance with the filing requirement of the statute.
The plaintiff claims the right of review under §
Prior to the adoption of this amendment to §
In view, however, of the amendment and the unmistakable intent of the General Assembly to permit an aggrieved complainant to appeal from an order dismissing his complaint, despite the lack of statutory procedure in such cases, as well as a lack of the transcript to review the action of the commission, the Superior Court has jurisdiction to hear his appeal. Hearings on H.B. 2585 before the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Functions, 1963 Sess., pt. 3, pp. 741-43. A substantially similar result was arrived at, without statute, by the New York Court of Appeals in Matterof Jeanpierre v. Arbury,
The file of the commission contains reports from two investigators of investigation made by them together with their recommendations of dismissal. Pursuant to the statute, Investigator Hogan undertook a further investigation of the formal complaint, including the obtaining of copies of the applicable collective bargaining agreements, which agreements are included in the file examined by the court, and determined that the union did not wish to press the employer to allow an exception to the agreed shift rotation procedure for plaintiff, and he wrote a further report dated October 31, 1966, recommending that "the respondent not be held guilty of discriminating agaist complainant because of her religion." On February 16, 1967, plaintiff advised the commission that she "wanted to file a new and different complaint, alleging discrimination because of color"; she complained of the prior investigation and was unwilling to accept the conclusion that General Motors was within its rights in requiring from her "a normal work schedule as outlined for other employees"; and she cited another Seventh-Day Adventist employee who she claimed was not required to work on their Sabbath. Investigator Vigezzi conducted a further investigation which satisfied him that plaintiff's color had nothing to do with her termination and that plaintiff's assertions with respect *346 to the other employee were erroneous. As indicated in his report dated March 7, 1967, Vigezzi then advised plaintiff that he was recommending dismissal of her complaint.
On April 7, 1967, plaintiff was given formal notification that the commission voted that there was lack of evidence to support her complaint; in her request for reconsideration dated April 12, 1967, she reiterated that "I was terminated from my job because of refusal to work on my Sabbath" and "I do not work on my Sabbath regardless of what Mr. Vigezzi found about other employees working on this day." On May 17, 1967, plaintiff was given formal notice that the commission would not reconsider its decision of April 7, 1967, dismissing her complaint for lack of evidence.
The commission file contains copies of an order by the Michigan civil rights commission, dated March 22, 1966, rejecting a claim of religious discrimination on similar facts and a press release, dated June 17, 1966, regarding a similar holding by the federal equal employment opportunity commission. Both orders relied upon the right of an employer to establish a regular work week applicable to all employees notwithstanding any possible effect on religious observance of the employees. The defendant commission, in similarly relying on that right, did not act illegally, arbitrarily, or capriciously.
The foregoing steps by the commission followed its rules and the procedure outlined in §
The plaintiff relies on Sherbert v. Verner,
In conclusion, the order of the commission affirming the action of the investigators and dismissing the plaintiff's complaint was not illegal, nor was it arbitrary or capricious.
Judgment may be entered dismissing the appeal.