Ali v. Greater Ft. Wayne Chamber of Commerce

• Decision Date: 24 March 1987
• Docket Number: No. 02A03-8604-CV-116,02A03-8604-CV-116
• Citation: 505 N.E.2d 141
• Parties: 54 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1843 Abraham Abate ALI and Fort Wayne Metropolitan Human Relations Commission, Appellants, v. GREATER FORT WAYNE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

Page 141

505 N.E.2d 141

54 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1843

Abraham Abate ALI and Fort Wayne Metropolitan Human

Relations Commission, Appellants, v. GREATER FORT WAYNE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, Appellee.

No. 02A03-8604-CV-116.

Court of Appeals of Indiana,

Third District.

March 24, 1987.

Steven L. Jackson, Fort Wayne, for appellants.

J. Timothy McCaulay, Helmke, Beams, Boyer & Wagner, Fort Wayne, for appellee.

STATON, Judge.

Abraham Abate Ali (Ali) alleged that the termination of his employment with the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) was the result of discrimination based on national origin. The Fort Wayne, Indiana, Metropolitan Human Relations Commission (MHRC) determined that Ali was the victim of discrimination, and awarded him $7,200.96. That order was reviewed by the trial court and denied. Ali has appealed the trial court's judgment, and presents the following issue for review:

Whether the trial court employed an improper standard of review when it denied the recommended order of the administrative agency.

Affirmed.

Judicial review of an administrative order or decision is limited to consideration of whether the agency possessed jurisdiction over the matter decided and whether the order was made in conformity with proper legal procedure. A reviewing court will also determine whether the administrative decision was based on substantial evidence and whether the decision violates any statutory or legal principal. Bolerjack v. Forsythe (1984), Ind.App., 461 N.E.2d 1126, 1130, trans. den. In the instant case, the trial court's explanation of why it denied the MHRC's order was as follows:

The Court finds that although substantial evidence is present in the record to support the basic facts found in paragraphs numbered 9 through 20 of the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law and Recommended Order of the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission, there is not substantial, reliable and provative [sic] evidence that the Commission's ultimate finding, decision and determination is so supported. Therefore, the Court cannot reasonably find from this record that the ultimate fact, i.e. termination of employment because of discrimination of national origin is supported by substantial evidence.

R. 583.

Ali's allegation of error is that by accepting the basic facts found by the MHRC but rejecting its ultimate conclusion, the trial court improperly reweighed evidence and substituted its judgment for that of the administrative agency. Johnson v. Moritz (1981), Ind.App., 426 N.E.2d 448, 450.

The "proper procedure" for administrative decision making was set down as follows:

The process necessarily includes at least four parts: (1) evidence must be taken and weighed, both as to its accuracy and credibility; (2) from attentive consideration of this evidence a determination of facts of a basic or underlying nature must be reached; (3) from these basic facts the ultimate facts, usually in the language of the statute, are to be inferred, or not, as the case may be; (4) from this finding the decision will follow by the application of the statutory criterion.

State ex rel. Newton v. Board of School Trustees (1984), Ind.App., 460 N.E.2d 533, 545, trans. den. (citations omitted).

In the instant case, the basic facts found by MHRC are that Ali, who is not a United States citizen, is of Ethiopian origin. He was employed by the Chamber as a maintenance worker, and that there was more animosity between Ali and John Porter, the Chamber's head of maintenance, than between Porter and other maintenance workers. Too, unlike other workers, Ali was often given heavier workloads and ordered to work alone. Porter persuaded Ali to accept these conditions by telling him that he would have difficulty finding another job because he did not speak English very well. Ali was discharged after he was discovered taking an unauthorized break in a storeroom. Another maintenance worker who was assigned to work with Ali, was getting a drink of water when Porter fired Ali. This worker was not disciplined for taking an unauthorized break.

Another basic fact was that the Chamber had no formal written rules of discipline, nor any formal work rules at the time Ali was discharged. Individuals were hired, disciplined and terminated when the supervisor wanted to do so.

The trial court determined that there was substantial evidence to support the basic facts found by the MHRC, however, it did not find substantial evidence to support the ultimate fact that there was discrimination because of Ali's national origin. While great weight must be given to the administrative body's findings, ultimate facts, defined as factual conclusions derived from basic facts, are subject to a reasonableness standard of review. Indiana Civil Rights Comm. v. City of Muncie (1984), Ind.App., 459 N.E.2d 411, 419, trans. den. (the reasonableness of an agency's inference is a matter of law); City of Evansville v. Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Co. (1975), 167 Ind.App. 472, 339 N.E.2d 562, 572-73. In the instant case, it is clear that whether the ultimate fact of discrimination based on national origin was a reasonable inference from the basic facts, is a question of law properly subject to the scrutiny of the trial court....