Beehive Medical Electronics, Inc. v. Industrial Commission

583 P.2d 53, 37 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 351, 1978 Utah LEXIS 1365, 17 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8589
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 20, 1978
Docket15062, 15127 and 15203
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 583 P.2d 53 (Beehive Medical Electronics, Inc. v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beehive Medical Electronics, Inc. v. Industrial Commission, 583 P.2d 53, 37 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 351, 1978 Utah LEXIS 1365, 17 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8589 (Utah 1978).

Opinions

WILKINS, Justice:

All statutory references are to Utah Code Annotated, 1953, as amended, unless otherwise indicated.

Defendant, Belva Alsop (hereafter “Alsop”), commenced this action below claiming a violation under the Utah Antidiscrim-ination Act, Chapter 35, Title 34 (hereafter “Act”). On September 4, 1974, she filed a complaint, pursuant to Sec.' 34-35-7, claiming sex discrimination in rate of pay between herself and several men who were hired to do the same work that the defendant did. On April 28, 1975, the original hearing in this matter was held before a hearing examiner of the Industrial Commission of the State of Utah. On May 8,1975, the hearing examiner made findings of fact and conclusions of law in favor of Alsop. In its order dated July 8,1975, the Industrial Commission adopted the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the hearing examiner and from its order Plaintiff Beehive Medical Electronics, Inc., now known as Beehive International, (hereafter “Beehive”), appealed to the District Court of Salt Lake County for a trial de novo.

The trial de novo commenced on January 24,1977, and on March 11,1977, the District Court entered judgment affirming the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Industrial Commission by determining that there had been discrimination against Alsop. Judgment was granted in favor of Alsop in the sum of $4,326.80, representing the differential in pay arising out of the discrimination. Beehive was ordered to cease and desist from discriminating against the defendant at the place of her employment on the basis of her sex, and was ordered to pay her the same rate of pay as was being paid to her male counterparts who were doing the same work. Beehive was further ordered to refrain from taking any retaliatory action against the defendant for her action in filing the complaint with the Industrial Commission of the State of Utah or for pursuing her legal rights in Court.

[56]*56On April 26, 1977, a hearing was held before the District Court based upon an Order to Show Cause, following which the Court entered an order, dated May 3, 1977, adjudging the plaintiff to be in contempt of court for violating the antiretaliatory and antidiscriminatory provisions of the March 11, 1977 judgment. Plaintiff Beehive appeals from the judgment and orders above.

Alsop was employed by Beehive in February of 1972 as an expediter in the material supply organization of Beehive. In November of 1972 she began to function in the purchasing phase of the material operation. She worked in that activity for a period of time and then moved to an assignment as the stores supervisor for the company for a short period of time. She returned to work in the purchasing phase until she had health problems. Then on August 5, 1974, she re-commenced work in the purchasing phase of the company activities.

The District Court in findings dated March 11, 1977, found that Beehive had discriminated against Alsop on account of her sex, in violation of Sec. 34-35-6(l)(a), by paying her a lower wage than was paid to her male counterparts in positions which were similar and comparable to the work which Alsop performed for Beehive; that Beehive also discriminated by failing to credit Alsop with on-the-job experience and training in determining her wage and job title while concurrently crediting her male counterparts with such experience and training; that Beehive discriminated against Alsop by establishing, creating and utilizing what amounted to fictitious job titles and job levels as a basis for justification for paying her a lower wage than her male counterparts, when the actual respective duties of Alsop and her male counterparts were not significantly or materially different and further, the male counterparts did not require a level of skill higher than that at which Alsop was actually performing.

The Court granted judgment in favor of Alsop for $4,326.80, which represented the sum of differential pay to which she was entitled from August 5, 1974 to February 28, 1976 in her employment, thereby compensating her for deprivation of equal pay, employment status and classification in violation of the Act. The Court also in the March 11, 1977 judgment ordered Beehive to cease and desist from further discrimination against Alsop and additionally prohibited Beehive from retaliatory action against her for bringing this action.

Plaintiff assigns a number of errors infra to which we address ourselves. Additional facts will be recited in the assignments of error to which they pertain. Beehive contends that the. hearing before the Industrial Commission was unlawful and invalid because an attorney for the Commission did not present the case in support of Alsop’s complaint. It cites as authority for this position Sec. 34-35-7(7), which provides that:

The case in support of such complaint shall be presented at the hearing by one of the commission’s attorneys or agents.

Section 34-35-7(8) specifically states in pertinent part:

In the discretion of the hearing examiner, a complainant may be allowed to intervene and present testimony in person or by counsel. [Emphasis added.]

It was therefore not improper for Alsop to present testimony either personally or by counsel during the proceedings before the hearing examiner. Other grounds exist for our determination that this contention is unmeritorious but need not be specified as the preceding comments are dispositive.

Beehive asserts that it was error to refuse a jury trial in District Court. Beehive argues that because Section 34-35-8(12) of the Act reads as follows:

The provisions of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, so far as applicable, and not in conflict with this chapter, apply to proceedings in the courts under the provisions of this chapter.

that nothing in the Act specifically negatives the right to jury trial, and that, therefore, Rule 38 of the Utah Rules of Civil [57]*57Procedure governs.1 Beehive further cites Article I, Section 10, of the Constitution of Utah and the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of the United States as additional authority for its position.

We believe Beehive’s second point is without merit. Sec. 34-35-8(6) states:

Upon the conclusion of a trial de novo in the district court or other proceedings which appropriately dispose of all issues of fact and of law, the district court shall enter findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment and decree, which shall be subject to enforcement upon the application of the commission or any party to the judgment. The parties may waive findings of fact and conclusions of law. The judgment entered in the district court shall supersede any order made by the commission. [Emphasis added.]

By providing that the District Court shall enter its findings of fact in such cases, the Legislature clearly intended that the court, not a jury, be the fact finder on appeal in antidiscrimination cases, and the provisions of Rule 38 pertaining to jury trials are not applicable to these proceedings. Also the provisions in Utah’s Constitution pertaining to trial by jury are not offended in this case as the proceedings here were essentially equitable.2 Further, Beehive admits that the United States Supreme Court has not specifically extended the right to a trial by jury in civil actions to the States, to which we agree.

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Bluebook (online)
583 P.2d 53, 37 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 351, 1978 Utah LEXIS 1365, 17 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beehive-medical-electronics-inc-v-industrial-commission-utah-1978.