Donato v. American Tel. & Tel. Co.

• Decision Date: 20 January 2000
• Docket Number: No. SC93534.,SC93534.
• Citation: 767 So.2d 1146
• Parties: Rosario DONATO, Appellant, v. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CO., Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

767 So.2d 1146

Rosario DONATO, Appellant, v. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CO., Appellee.

No. SC93534.

Supreme Court of Florida.

January 20, 2000.

Rehearing Denied March 2, 2000.

Thomas J. Pilacek, Maitland, Florida, for Appellant.

Sylvia H. Walbolt, Daniel C. Johnson, and Matthew J. Conigliaro of Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith and Cutler, P.A., St. Petersburg, Florida, for Appellee.

ANSTEAD, J.

We have for review a question of Florida law certified by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals that is determinative of a cause pending in that court and for which there appears to be no controlling precedent:

CAN AN INDIVIDUAL PROCEED UNDER THE FLORIDA CIVIL RIGHTS ACT BY ALLEGING THAT HE WAS DISCHARGED, IN VIOLATION OF THE PROHIBITION ON MARITAL STATUS DISCRIMINATION, BECAUSE HE IS MARRIED TO AN INDIVIDUAL WHO FILED SUIT AGAINST HIS EMPLOYER?

We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(6), Fla. Const. We answer the certified question in the negative and hold that the Florida Civil Rights Act does not recognize a cause of action for marital status discrimination where the discrimination is allegedly based on the actions of the claimant's spouse, rather than on the marital status of the claimant.

MATERIAL FACTS

The facts in this case are taken from the circuit court's opinion in Donato v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co., 146 F.3d 1329 (11th Cir.1998):

This case is brought by Rosario Donato, alleging that he was the victim of marital status discrimination when AT & T terminated his employment shortly after Mr. Donato's wife, a former AT & T employee, sued AT & T. Mr. Donato filed his complaint in 1996 under the Florida Civil Rights Act, which, inter alia, protects employees from discrimination based on marital status.

In March 1992, Mrs. Lynda Donato filed a claim against AT & T. On October 21, 1993, the Florida Commission on Human Relations concluded that there was reasonable cause to support Mrs. Donato's initial allegations of sex discrimination and retaliation by AT & T. She was discharged from her position with AT & T in February 1994, and filed a federal action in August 1994, alleging sex discrimination and retaliatory discharge. In October 1994, Mrs. Donato applied for a temporary clerical position in the division of AT & T which employed her husband. During a meeting with manager Al Facini, she disclosed her lawsuit against AT & T and was told that she was "over-qualified" for the open position.

In November 1994, Mr. Donato was informed that his position as a Systems Analyst was placed "at risk", allegedly due to Mr. Donato's poor performance.

He also was told by his supervisor, Frank Minardi, that his position was being eliminated (although Mr. Donato alleges that another employee subsequently was assigned to perform all of his duties). On November 15, 1994, just two days before his thirtieth-year anniversary with AT & T, Mr. Donato was discharged.

Mr. Donato filed a charge of discrimination on July 17, 1995, which the EEOC did not timely resolve. He then filed a single-count complaint in state court on July 3, 1996, seeking reinstatement, compensation, and punitive damages up to $100,000. AT & T removed the case to federal court on the basis of diversity and then moved to dismiss the case, arguing that the Act only protects marriage status in general and does not prohibit discrimination against a person because he or she is married to a particular person, e.g., a foreign citizen, a disabled person, or a troublemaker. The District Court granted AT & T's motion in a brief order issued February 21, 1997, and upon Mr. Donato's failure to amend his complaint, the case was dismissed with prejudice on March 11, 1997.

Id. at 1330. Petitioner appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which, after hearing oral argument, certified the above question to this Court. Id. at 1332. In doing so, the circuit court noted that this Court has not yet addressed whether a discharged employee can assert a claim based on marital status discrimination under section 760.10 of the Florida Statutes "where the employee allegedly was discharged in retaliation for actions of his spouse." Id. at 1330.

LEGAL ANALYSIS

Donato argues that the term "marital status" should be broadly defined, as it has been by the Florida Commission on Human Relations,¹ to include the identity and actions of one's spouse as well as whether one is married, single, divorced, separated or widowed. AT & T, on the other hand, argues that the term "marital status" must be construed in accordance with its common and ordinary meaning and may not be extended to encompass situations not intended by the legislature. Under its plain and ordinary meaning, AT & T contends, "marital status" means simply an individual's legal status with respect to marriage-i.e., married, single, widowed, divorced, or separated.

Marital Status

During the 1970s, many states amended their anti-discrimination statutes by adding the term "marital status" to the list of protected classes. See John C. Beattie, Prohibiting Marital Status Discrimination: A Proposal for the Protection of Unmarried Couples, 42 Hastings L.J. 1415, 1417 (1991). In 1977, the Florida Legislature expanded its Civil Rights Act ("Act") (formerly known as the Florida Human Relations Act) to include age, handicap, and marital status among the list of proscribed forms of discrimination. See ch. 77-34a, § 1, Laws of Florida. Importantly, this legislation provided greater protection to Florida citizens than is provided under the federal Civil Rights Act, which, for example, does not include protection for marital status.² The general purpose of Florida's Act is to "secure for all individuals within the state freedom from discrimination" and "to protect their interest in personal dignity, to make available to the state their full productive capacities, to secure the state against the domestic strife and unrest, to preserve the public safety, health and general welfare, and to promote the interests, rights and privileges of individual's within the state." Ch. 77-341, § 1, at 1462 (codified at § 13.201, Fla. Stat. (1977)) (current version at § 760.01(2), Fla. Stat. (1997) (Civil Rights Act of 1992)). The Legislature has further noted that the act is to be construed in accord with the fair import of its terms and shall be liberally construed to further the general purposes stated therein. See § 760.01(3). Within the same piece of legislation, the Legislature created a provision enumerating unlawful employment practices. See ch. 77-341, § 6 (codified at § 13.261, Fla. Stat. (1977)). That provision is now codified at section 760.10, Florida Statutes (1997), and states in pertinent part:

(1) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer:

(a) To discharge or to fail or refuse to hire any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status.

§ 760.10(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (1997). Unfortunately, the Civil Rights Act fails to define the term "marital status".

Indeed, our research reflects that most of the jurisdictions which have included "marital status" within their antidiscrimination statutes have failed to provide any definition of the term. However, most of the states that define the term do so narrowly. See, e.g., D.C.Code Ann. § 1-2502(17) (1981) ("the state of being married, single, divorced, separated, or widowed and the usual conditions associated therewith, including pregnancy or parenthood"); 775 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. 5/1-103(J) (West Supp.1999) ("the legal status of being married, single, separated, divorced or widowed"); Md. Ann.Code art. 49B, § 20 (Supp.1999) ("the state of being single, married, separated, divorced, or widowed" in context of housing discrimination only); Wash. Rev.Code. § 49.60.040(7) (1998) ("the legal status of being married, single, separated, divorced, or widowed"); Wis. Stat. Ann. § 111.32(12) (West Supp. 1998) ("the status of being married, single, divorced, separated or widowed"); but see, e.g., Minn.Stat. Ann. § 363.01 subd. 24 (West Supp.2000) ("whether a person is single, married, remarried, divorced, separated, or a surviving spouse and, in employment cases, includes protection against discrimination on the basis of the identity, situation, actions, or beliefs of a spouse or former spouse").

We also note that there is little to no documented legislative history on the subject in Florida or elsewhere. As one commentator notes:

Significantly, however, not one marital status discrimination case has cited the legislative history and debate surrounding the addition of the term "marital status" to existing antidiscrimination statutes. In fact, such documented history appears to be largely unavailable. Thus, the court's only guide in discerning the legislative purpose behind the prohibition of marital status discrimination is the language of the statute itself.

Beattie, supra, at 1428. We are also hindered by the lack of judicial treatment of the term "marital status" in Florida. Only one district court has analyzed a claim based on marital status discrimination, and it did not decide the issue. In National Industries, Inc. v. Commission on Human Relations, 527 So.2d 894 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988), Sharon Morand filed a complaint with the Commission based on marital status discrimination after she was fired by her employer, National Industries, because of actions by her spouse, Robert Morand, a former employee of the same employer. The Commission found that Sharon had stated a cause of action for marital status discrimination. In doing so, it relied on its decision in Owens v. Upper Pinellas Association for Retarded Citizens, 8 F.A.L.R. 438 (Fla. Comm'n. on Human Relations 1985), which broadly interpreted the term "marital status" to include the identity of the individual's...