Continental Can Co., Inc. v. State
| Decision Date | 03 July 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 49988.,49988. |
| Citation | 297 NW 2d 241 |
| Parties | CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC., et al., Petitioners, Respondents, v. STATE of Minnesota, by William Wilson, Commissioner, and his Successor, Marilyn E. McClure, Commissioner, Department of Human Rights, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Richard B. Allyn, Sol. Gen., and Allen E. Giles, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for appellant.
Broeker, Hartfeldt, Hedges & Grant, Steven R. Hedges, and Barbara J. Blumer, Minneapolis, for respondents.
Phyllis N. Segal and Susan K. Blumenthal, Sue Ellen Dodell, New York City, for Working Women's Inst. & NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Jeffrey A. Hassan, St. Paul, for Charging Party.
Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.
The Department of Human Rights (Department) appeals from the decision of the district court reversing the hearing examiner's decision that Willie Ruth Hawkins' employer, Continental Can Co. (Continental), discriminated against her on the basis of sex with respect to her conditions of employment.
Judicial review of the decision of the Department of Human Rights is governed by Minn.Stat. § 15.0425 (1978), the Minnesota Administrative Procedure Act.
We must determine whether the hearing examiner's findings are supported by substantial evidence and whether his decision that Continental committed unfair discriminatory practices against Willie Ruth Hawkins in violation of Minn.Stat. 363.03, subd. 1(2)(c) (1978) is unaffected by errors of law. Reserve Mining Co. v. Herbst, 256 N.W.2d 808, 827 (Minn.1977).1
The record reveals the following facts. Willie Ruth Hawkins, a black female, began her employment at Continental in December 1974. Throughout the duration of her employment, Continental employed only one other female, Debra Waits, at the Eagan plant.
Three male Continental employees, Tom Warling, Cliff Warling, and Bucky Kiesling, repeatedly made explicit sexually derogatory remarks and verbal sexual advances to Hawkins and Waits between December 1974 and March 1975. Hawkins testified that Cliff Warling also frequently patted her on the posterior. Cliff Warling admitted that on one occasion Hawkins told him she objected to the patting. In March 1975, the women complained to their supervisor, Jim Surface, about the remarks. However, they refused to identify their harassers. Continental took no action in response to the complaints.
Hawkins testified that the offensive remarks and touching continued after March 1975. However, based on Continental's lack of response to her first complaint, she felt she had to endure this treatment and made no further complaints until October 13, 1975.
On October 13, 1975, Hawkins worked at a machine called a "double seamer." She bent over it and sorted cans. Cliff Warling approached her from behind and grabbed her between the legs. She complained immediately to Jack French, the plant manager. Continental took no immediate action in response to this complaint.
Hawkins returned to work without further incident on October 13, 14, and 15, 1975. On the afternoon of October 16, Bobby Hawkins, Willie Ruth Hawkins' husband, confronted Cliff Warling in Continental's parking lot about the grabbing incident of October 13. Bobby Hawkins testified that Warling admitted that the incident occurred and apologized. Cliff Warling testified that he denied the incident but that he apologized about the patting incidents. Bobby Hawkins left the plant but returned around midnight to escort his wife home. They discovered that her car's headlights were broken. The next morning, on October 17, Jack French verbally reprimanded Cliff Warling about the parking lot confrontation. Warling then called his wife who told him she was concerned about a car which drove slowly past the Warling home. Warling left the plant. Rod Stevenson, a supervisor, observed him removing a gun from the gun rack in his pickup. Understandably, French was concerned and went to the police. The police then informed French that the Hawkins had filed a complaint that morning against Scott Losie, another Continental employee.
The complaint filed by the Hawkins arose from incidents occurring on the morning of October 17. That day, Pamela Losie received a threatening phone call from a person she believed to be a black female. She called her husband, Scott Losie, at work. He left work and drove to the Hawkins' home and threatened Willie Ruth Hawkins with a gun in the presence of her children. Later, he called his supervisor, Rod Stevenson, and told him he waved the gun at Ms. Hawkins. Stevenson told Losie to return to work. Losie was arrested at Continental later that day and charged with aggravated assault.
A series of meetings between the Hawkins couple and representatives of Continental took place between October 17 and October 27. Continental's representatives asked Hawkins to return to work on several occasions. She refused because the company made no assurances for her safety. On October 22, Cliff Warling and Scott Losie were suspended for 6 weeks after representatives of Continental met with representatives of the New Way Community Center and the Urban League who threatened boycotts and adverse publicity if Continental did not take action. Continental did not initiate a formal investigation until October 29, 1975. They held a plant meeting on November 6, 1975, during which they informed their employees that Continental would not tolerate verbal or physical sexual harassment and discrimination. Willie Ruth Hawkins did not return to work after October 16. Continental terminated her employment on December 5, 1975.
Hawkins filed a charge with the Department on October 20, 1975. She alleged that Continental and Jack French, the plant manager discriminated against her on the basis of her sex with respect to her conditions of employment in violation of Minn. Stat. § 363.03, subd. 1(2)(c) (1978). The Department found probable cause to believe that a violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act (Act) occurred and on February 16, 1977, filed a complaint against Continental and French. After a hearing, the hearing examiner concluded that Continental committed two unfair discriminatory employment practices in violation of Minn. Stat. § 363.03, subd. 1(2)(c) (1978) and that Hawkins was constructively discharged as a result of Continental's violations. He awarded her back pay damages but reduced those damages because he determined that her husband's activities at Continental and racial discrimination contributed to the tension at the plant. He denied punitive damages and reinstatement. He ordered Continental to cease and desist from discrimination against any person because of sex in the conditions of employment. He also concluded that French did not violate Minn. Stat. § 363.03, subd. 6 (1978) by intentionally aiding and abetting Continental in a violation of the Act. This last finding was not appealed to the district court or to this court.
Continental appealed the hearing examiner's decision to the district court pursuant to Minn.Stat. §§ 15.0424 and 363.072 (1978). The Department filed a cross-petition and Willie Ruth Hawkins intervened with permission of Continental and the Department. The district court reversed the hearing examiner's decision and dismissed the complaint with prejudice. The Department appeals the district court's decision pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 363.10 (1978). Hawkins filed an amicus brief with permission of this Court.
The following issues are presented for this Court's determination:
1. Whether substantial evidence supports the hearing examiner's findings that co-employees subjected Hawkins to repeated acts of verbal and physical sexual harassment, that Hawkins notified Continental of this harassment on two occasions, and that Continental failed to act promptly in response to these complaints.
2. Whether verbal and physical sexual harassment directed at an employee by fellow employees may, under certain circumstances, constitute sex discrimination in the conditions of employment. If so, what duty does the Act impose on an employer in these circumstances?
3. Whether Continental committed unfair discriminatory employment practices in violation of Minn.Stat. § 363.03, subd. 1(2)(c) (1978).
4. Whether the hearing examiner's finding that Continental's unfair discriminatory practices constructively discharged Willie Ruth Hawkins is supported by substantial evidence.
5. Whether the issue raised concerning the award of damages is properly before us.
1. The hearing examiner found that commencing in February 1975, Hawkins' co-workers, Cliff Warling, Tom Warling and Bucky Kiesling, repeatedly made verbal sexual advances to Hawkins. He found that they told her how they could make her feel sexually and that based on their sexual prowess, Hawkins would want to leave her husband. He also found that those same individuals repeatedly directed sexually derogatory remarks at Hawkins. These remarks included Cliff Warling's references to the movie Mandingo. He told Hawkins that he wished slavery days would return so that he could sexually train her and she would be his bitch. The hearing examiner found that she reported these incidents, without identifying the source of the remarks, to her supervisor, Jim Surface, in March 1975. He found that Surface informed Hawkins that there was nothing he could do and that she had to expect that kind of behavior when working with men. He found that Continental took no action whatsoever in response to Hawkins' complaint. He found that after March 1975, Cliff Warling patted Hawkins on the posterior on numerous occasions. He found that Tom and Cliff Warling and Bucky Kiesling informed Hawkins that women who worked at factories were tramps. He found that Cliff Warling grabbed Hawkins between the legs on October 13, 1975, and that she reported the incident to French the same day. Finally, he found that Continental did not...
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