Gray v. Ohio Civil Rights Commission

523 N.E.2d 338, 37 Ohio App. 3d 16, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10559
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 5, 1987
Docket86AP-722
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 523 N.E.2d 338 (Gray v. Ohio Civil Rights Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gray v. Ohio Civil Rights Commission, 523 N.E.2d 338, 37 Ohio App. 3d 16, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10559 (Ohio Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

Young, J.

This matter is before us on an appeal from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common *17 Pleas in favor of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. Appellant, Donald Gray, filed discrimination charges against his employer, Roadway Express, Inc. (“Roadway”). He alleged in these charges that Roadway terminated his employment due to a physical handicap. After a public hearing, the Civil Rights Commission’s hearing examiner recommended that the complaint be dismissed. Therafter, the full commission voted to sustain the dismissal. On July 23, 1985, the commission mailed a copy of the final order to appellant and his attorney. The appellant filed a petition for judicial review on August 26, 1985. The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas sustained ap-pellees’ motions to dismiss on the basis that the petition was not timely filed.

In the section “Law and Argument,” appellant’s brief asserts:

“Ohio Revised Code Section 4112. 06 does not impose a mandatory thirty-day time requirement in which to file an appeal from a final order of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.”

In comparing the statutory language of R.C. 4112.06(H) with the language of R.C. 4141.28(0), the language of R.C. 4112.06(H) is not as emphatic in requiring a mandatory, thirty-day time requirement in which to file an appeal. However, it is unlikely that the legislature’s intent was to establish an open-ended statute of limitations, which is clearly against public policy. Also, it is unlikely that the legislature intended the trial court to conduct a de novo review.

R.C. 4112.06(H) states as follows:

“If no proceeding to obtain judicial review is instituted by a complainant, or respondent within thirty days from the service of order of the commission pursuant to this section, the commission may obtain a decree of the court for the enforcement of such order upon showing that respondent is subject to the commission’s jurisdiction and resides or transacts business within the county in which the petition for enforcement is brought.”

Accordingly, R.C. 4112.06(H) sets forth a time period or grace period within which the complainant can act and the commission cannot. This section also creates jurisdiction in the common pleas court only when the aggrieved party has filed a petition for review within thirty days of the service of the final commission order. It is only during this thirty-day period, following the service of this final order, that the complainant may exercise his right to petition for judicial review. However, the commission is unable to enforce its order during this same time frame.

Once the thirty days have passed, the commission is able to seek an enforcement of its order. It necessarily follows that the commission’s right to enforce such orders causes the complainant to relinquish his right to seek a petition for judicial review.

Upon review of the federal legislation and similar legislation from other states in this same area of the law, there is no case law or statutory law to support appellant’s position. See Section 2000e-16(c), Title 42, U.S. Code; Canamore v. Tube Turns Div. of Chemetron Corp. (Ky. App. 1984), 676 S.W. 2d 800. The spirit of the civil rights legislation requires that these laws be liberally construed. Thus, administrative appeals from agency orders would either be governed by R.C. 119.12 or R.C. 2505.07. R.C. 119.12 imposes a fifteen-day limitation and R.C. 2505.07(B) requires the appeal to be filed within ten days. Therefore, R.C. 4112.06(H) gives the most liberal construction to the time limit of appellant’s appeal.

Appellant concedes that his appeal was füed beyond the thirty-day limitation pursuant to R.C. 4112.06(H). An individual who elects to proceed under the administrative provisions of R.C. *18 4112.01 et seq. is bound by the thirty-day time limitation of R.C. 4112.06(H). After service of the commission’s order, the time limit for appeal, pursuant to R.C. 4112.06(H), is thirty days. Service of the order is defined in Ohio Adm. Code 4112-L0i(M) which states that “service” is complete upon mailing. In the instant case, the commission mailed the order on July 23,1985. Therefore, when appellant filed his appeal on August 26, 1985, he was beyond the thirty-day time requirement for filing such an appeal pursuant to R.C. 4112.06(H). '

There are several recent appellate court decisions which interpret R.C. 4112.06(H). In Walters v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. (Aug. 15, 1986), Wood App. No. WD-86-6, unreported, the Sixth District Court of Appeals held at 5-6 that:

“In following this line of cases, this court finds that appellant has not complied with the strict requirements of the statute that has conferred his right of appeal. Therefore, the Wood County Court of Common Pleas did correctly grant the OCRC’s motion to dismiss on the ground that the appellant’s petition for judicial review was not timely filed. * * *”

The facts of the Walters case are that the appellant filed a complaint with the OCRC alleging discrimination as a result of appellant’s handicap. The OCRC found there was insufficient evidence on which to issue a complaint against Sears. The appellant requested reconsideration which was denied and notice of the final decision and order was mailed to the appellant on April 15, 1985 and received by the appellant on April 16, 1985. The appellant petitioned the Wood County Court of Common Pleas on May 16, 1985 for judicial review pursuant to R.C. 4112.06(H) and the Wood County Court of Common Pleas dismissed the petition on the basis that R.C. 4112.06(H) permits appeal only within thirty days after notice of the OCRC decision.

Virtually the same fact pattern was presented to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Appellate District in the case of Schumacker v. Pinkertons, Inc. (Jan. 28, 1986), Stark App. No. CA 6465, unreported. The Fifth Appellate District also held that the thirty-day limitation as set forth in R.C. 4112.06(H) applied. In an opinion that denied the appellant the right to a judicial review, the notice of appeal had been filed more than thirty days after the notice of the order and entry had been mailed to the appellant.

More recently in the case of Makiaris v. Ohio Civil Rights Comm. (Jan. 15, 1987), Cuyahoga App. No. 51548, unreported, Judge' Markus stated at 1 that:

“The employee argues here that his complaint asserts an independent discrimination action, rather than an untimely appeal from the commission’s adverse ruling. Alternatively, he contends that the appeal time did not run because the commission did not advise him about the time allowed to appeal its ruling.
“We hold that the employee’s administrative claim was his sole remedy for alleged handicap discrimination. Ohio recognizes no independent civil action for such a claim. The only procedure to challenge the commission’s ruling is an appeal pursuant to R.C. 4112.06, and this employee did not appeal in the time allowed by law. The commission did notify him about his right to appeal its ruling and had no duty to specify the time for that appeal. Hence, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
523 N.E.2d 338, 37 Ohio App. 3d 16, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10559, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gray-v-ohio-civil-rights-commission-ohioctapp-1987.