Silverstein v. Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health Services Corp.

614 P.2d 891, 43 Colo. App. 446, 1 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 125, 1979 Colo. App. LEXIS 909
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 20, 1979
Docket78-135
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 614 P.2d 891 (Silverstein v. Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health Services Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Silverstein v. Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health Services Corp., 614 P.2d 891, 43 Colo. App. 446, 1 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 125, 1979 Colo. App. LEXIS 909 (Colo. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinions

RULAND, Judge.

The plaintiff appeals from a judgment which dismissed her complaint after trial to the court. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

This action was based upon the defendants’ refusal to employ the plaintiff as a respiratory therapist. In a prior appeal between the parties, this court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s claims: (1) for damages under § 24-34-801(l)(b), C.R.S. 1973; (2) for exemplary damages under both the state act and § 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794; and (3) for attorney’s fees. The trial court’s dismissal of her claim for a declaratory judgment under the state act was reversed. Silverstein v. Sisters of Charity, 38 Colo.App. 286, 559 P.2d 716 (1976).

Upon remand, trial was held on the plaintiff’s claims (1) for damages for breach of contract and for violation of the federal act, and (2) for declaratory judgments that the defendants’ policy of refusing to hire anyone with a history of epilepsy in a position involving direct patient care was unlawful under both the federal and state acts. The parties stipulated that the defendants received the funding which makes the state act applicable. They also stipulated that the defendants have a program or activity receiving financial assistance within the meaning of the federal act.

[893]*893The trial court found that there is a divergence of competent medical opinion regarding the likelihood of future seizures for persons with epilepsy and the possible risks attendant thereto. It further found that there was substantial and respectable medical opinion supporting the reasonableness of the defendants’ employment policy. Consequently, the court concluded that the plaintiff was not “otherwise qualified” under the federal act, and that her disability prevented performance of the work involved under the state act. The court also dismissed the breach of contract claim, a ruling which is not involved in this appeal.

I. The Federal Act

Silverstein argues that the trial court erred in finding that she was not otherwise qualified under the federal act and, therefore, wrongfully dismissed her claims for damages and for declaratory relief under that act. We need not reach the merits of this argument since we conclude that, under the circumstances here, the federal statute does not permit an action against this employer for employment discrimination. A correct judgment by the trial court will not be disturbed on review because the reasoning which led to the result is inaccurate. Metropolitan Industrial Bank v. Great Western Products Corp., 158 Colo. 198, 405 P.2d 944 (1965); Klipfel v. Neill, 30 Colo.App. 428, 494 P.2d 115 (1972).

In Trageser v. Libbie Rehabilitation Center, Inc., 590 F.2d 87 (4th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 947, 99 S.Ct. 2895, 61 L.Ed.2d 318 (1979), the Fourth Circuit held that “[a] private action under [the federal act] to redress employment discrimination . may not be maintained unless a primary objective of the federal financial assistance is to provide employment.” We are persuaded by the Trageser court’s interpretation of the relevant statutes and its conclusions. See White v. Anderson, 155 Colo. 291, 394 P.2d 333 (1964).

As in Trageser, supra, there has been no allegation in this case that providing employment is a primary objective of the federal aid received by defendants. Rather, the evidence shows that, at the time of the plaintiff’s employment application, the only federal aid received by the defendants was in the form of Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and that those funds were provided by the federal government to pay patients’ hospital bills. Thus, as in Trageser, the plaintiff could not prevail on her claims under the federal act.

II. The State Act

Silverstein asked the trial court to declare the hospital’s exclusionary employment policy violative of the state statute prohibiting, discrimination against handicapped persons in employment. Section 24-34-801(l)(b), C.R.S. 1973, provides that otherwise physically disabled persons shall be employed, where the employment is supported in whole or in part by public funds, on the same terms and conditions as the able-bodied, unless it is shown that “the particular disability prevents the performance of the work involved.”

Based on uncontroverted facts, the trial court found that the defendant hospital elected not to hire Silverstein solely because of her history of epilepsy. It also found that the hospital’s policy with regard to the hiring of persons with a history of epilepsy was to exclude them from positions involving direct patient care and that this restriction did not involve individualized evaluation of each applicant. The court concluded that this employment policy was based upon substantial and respectable medical opinion, and that because of the duty owed by a hospital to its patients, the particular disability, epilepsy, prevented the performance of the work involved.

In so ruling, the trial court held that the hospital’s policy of excluding persons with a history of epilepsy from positions involving direct patient care was permissible under the state act. This construction of the statute by the trial court allowing such a policy is a conclusion of law which is not binding on an appellate court. Sunshine v. M. R. Mansfield Realty, Inc., 195 Colo. 95, 575 P.2d 847 (1978).

[894]*894Because our inquiry is limited to deciding whether the hospital’s exclusionary policy is permissible under the statute, and because the hospital admittedly rejected Silverstein immediately upon discovering that she had a history of epilepsy, without evaluating the degree of her disability, we do not, of course, determine whether Silverstein was qualified under the statute. Rather, two issues are significant in evaluating the trial court’s conclusion. Does § 24-34-801(l)(b), C.R.S. 1973, allow an employer to exclude from certain positions all persons having a particular disability; and, if not, does the fact that the employer is a hospital affect the application of the statute?

The answer to the first inquiry depends on what the General Assembly intended the words “the particular disability” in the statute to mean. The trial court adopted the defendants’ interpretation that the General Assembly intended this language to provide, as to certain employment, for the exclusion of physically disabled persons by virtue of the nature of their disability. We conclude that the consequence of such a construction would frustrate the apparent legislative purpose. See Mooney v. Kuiper, 194 Colo. 477, 573 P.2d 538 (1978).

The legislative intent in enacting this statute was to provide penalties for those employers who exclude handicapped persons from employment solely because of their disability. Section 24-34-802, C.R.S. 1973.

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Bluebook (online)
614 P.2d 891, 43 Colo. App. 446, 1 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 125, 1979 Colo. App. LEXIS 909, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/silverstein-v-sisters-of-charity-of-leavenworth-health-services-corp-coloctapp-1979.