School District No. 1 v. Nilsen

523 P.2d 1041, 17 Or. App. 601, 1974 Ore. App. LEXIS 1138, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 9649, 16 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1198
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided June 17, 1974·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

FOLEY, J.

This is a proceeding for judicial review of an order of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor. That order declared certain of the policies of the petitioner-School District relating to pregnancy and maternity to be in violation of ORS 659.030 (1), and [604] ordered the District to cease and desist from enforcing those policies. In addition, the order awarded damages and other relief to the teacher whose complaint precipitated the proceeding as well as to all other teachers similarly situated. The District contends in this court that (1) the Commissioner erred in finding that the District’s policies worked an unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex, (2) some of the relief granted the complainant and all others similarly situated is in excess of the Commissioner’s authority, and (3) the scope of the Commissioner’s order goes beyond the issues presented at the hearing.

The controversy arose out of the following fact situation: In September of 1970, Mrs. Sally Flury, a third-year probationary teacher employed by the School District, notified the District that she was pregnant and expected her child to be born in late January or early February 1971. She was informed that pursuant to the District’s rules, she would be [605] required to submit a resignation form which would become effective when the Superintendent determined, based on information from Mrs. Flury and her physician, that Mrs. Flury was no longer able to teach. The effect of such resignation was that Mrs. Flury would lose the credit toward tenure which she had accumulated (in her ease, two and one-half years) and would have to start over again as a first-year probationary teacher if she were to resume employment with the District. Mrs. Flury submitted the resignation form under protest, and proceeded to file a complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the Oregon Bureau of Labor, alleging that the District’s resignation policy constituted discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of ORS 659.030. Conciliation was attempted but the efforts failed. Thereafter, on March 4, 1971, the Attorney General, pursuant to ORS 659.060, as it read prior to the 1971 amendments, filed “Specific [606] Charges of Discrimination” against the District, alleging that Mrs. Flury had been discharged from her employment solely because of her sex.

A hearing was held before a tribunal appointed pursuant to ORS 659.060 (4) (as it existed prior to the 1971 amendments) by the Commissioner of Labor on March 30, 1971, and on October 26, 1971, the tribunal filed its proposed findings of fact. These proposed findings of fact were confined to analysis of the District’s rule that required resignation of pregnant probationary teachers. The tribunal found that this rule constituted discrimination on the basis of sex, and that the District had not shown that the rule was necessitated by a bona fide occupational requirement. Thereafter, Mrs. Flury filed a statement of pecuniary detriment with the Civil Rights Division, alleging that she had incurred $250 expense in private attorney’s fees and $1,000 damages for humiliation, frustration, anxiety and nervousness brought about by the District’s actions. A supplemental hearing was held on these pecuniary matters.

On December 12, 1973, the Commissioner of Labor filed his “Supplemental Findings, Conclusions of Law and Order.” The Commissioner adopted the tribunal’s findings of fact and supplemented them with his own findings that Mrs. Flury was entitled to recover $150 in attorney’s fees and $700 damages for humiliation, frustration, anxiety and nervousness. The Commis[607] sioner then went on to make a lengthy order which contained injunctive provisions, provisions for liaison between the District and the Civil Rights Division of the Bureau of Labor, and class remedy provisions. In its petition for judicial review the District attacks a number of portions of the order as unnecessarily broad and onerous.

For the purposes of clarity, this opinion will be divided into three sections: first, whether the District’s challenged policy was unlawful; second, whether the damages and attorney’s fees granted complainant were proper; third, whether the scope of the Commissioner’s order was proper insofar as it purported to affect persons other than the complainant.

I

ORS 659.030 (1) provides in pertinent part that it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer, because of the sex of any individual,

“* * * to discriminate against such individual * * * in terms, conditions or privileges of employment. * * *”

The School District’s defense of its rule requiring the resignation of pregnant probationary teachers is two-pronged: first, the District contends that its rule does not discriminate on the basis of sex; second, even if the rule should be found to discriminate on the basis of sex, it is not an unlawful employment practice because it is justified by bona fide occupational requirements. We discuss these points separately.

A

Evidence presented at the hearing showed that the District required resignation only in the case of [608] probationary teachers, i.e., those who had not served for the three years necessary to acquire tenure. Tenured teachers were granted an unpaid maternity leave of absence of one year, with an option to extend the leave for a second school year if the teacher so requested. Unlike the probationary teacher who had to resign and start over again with first-year teacher status, the tenured teacher returning from a maternity leave of absence suffered no diminution in status and was also guaranteed re-employment. The District focuses on the distinction between probationary and tenured teachers and contends that since the distinction is based on length of service, not sex, it is not within the provisions of ORS ch 659.

The fact that the District granted maternity leave of absence to tenured teachers and did not grant it to probationary teachers is not controlling. The relevant consideration is whether all probationary teachers, male and female, are treated alike when their physical condition temporarily prevents them from teaching. It is apparent that they are not.

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School District No. 1 v. Nilsen, 523 P.2d 1041, 17 Or. App. 601, 1974 Ore. App. LEXIS 1138, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 9649, 16 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1198 (Or. Ct. App. 1974).

523 P.2d 1041 (School District No. 1 v. Nilsen) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Human Rights Commission v. Cheney School District No. 30
641 P.2d 163 (Washington Supreme Court, 1982)
School District No. 1, Multnomah County v. Nilsen
534 P.2d 1135 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1975)