Hinfey v. Matawan Regional Bd. of Educ.
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court – Appellate Division |
| Writing for the Court | PRESSLER |
| Citation | 371 A.2d 78,147 N.J.Super. 201 |
| Parties | Patricia HINFEY, Jacquelyn Walker for Monmouth County N.O.W., Complainants-Appellants, v. MATAWAN REGIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION et al., Respondents. |
| Decision Date | 21 January 1977 |
Page 201
N.O.W., Complainants-Appellants,
v.
MATAWAN REGIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION et al., Respondents.
Appellate Division.
Decided Jan. 21, 1977.
[371 A.2d 79]
Page 203
Nadine Taub, Newark, attorney for complainants-appellants.William F. Hyland, Atty. Gen., for respondent Director of the Div. on Civ. Rights (Mary Ann Burgess, Trenton, of counsel and on the brief).
Edward A. Parker, Newark, filed a brief on behalf of the amici curiae Congresso Boricua De New Jersey and American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
Before Judges CRANE, MICHELS and PRESSLER.
Page 204
The opinion of the court was delivered by
PRESSLER, J.S.C., Temporarily Assigned.
The issue raised by this appeal is whether the enactment by the Legislature in 1973 of N.J.S.A. 18A:36--20 1 divested the Division on Civil Rights (Division) of its adjudicatory and enforcement jurisdiction over acts of discrimination committed by school districts in their status as public accommodations. The Director of the Division (Director) so held, relying on a formal opinion of the Attorney General, F.O. 1975 No. 28, which determined that that statute conferred exclusive jurisdiction over such controversies upon the Commissioner of Education (Commissioner). We disagree and conclude that the import of the Title 18A enactment was merely to confirm the concurrent jurisdiction of the Commissioner without any abrogation or diminution of the continued jurisdiction of the Division accorded by the Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5--1 Et seq.
The factual and procedural context in which this jurisdictional question arises has its genesis in early 1973 when various county chapters of the New Jersey branch of the National Organization for Women began filing complaints with the Division on Civil Rights against local school Districts alleging proscribed sex discrimination in curriculum assignments, employment practices and the availability of other school advantages and facilities. 2 The [371 A.2d 80] Director of the Division made an initial determination that he had subject matter jurisdiction to proceed pursuant to the express provisions
Page 205
of the Law Against Discrimination. 3 By the end of 1974 over 40 such complaints had been filed, including the complaint of the complainants here, which charged respondents with unlawful sex-discriminatory practices, both as employers and as offerors of public accommodations. 4 By October 1975 some of the cases had already been terminated by the entry of consent orders by which the respective respondents undertook to take corrective action. The remaining 40 cases, including the instant controversy, were in various stages of quasi-judicial processing, ranging from the awaiting of a probable cause finding, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:5--14, to the awaiting of assignment of a public hearing date. On October 15, 1975, pursuant to a request made of him by the Director, the Attorney General delivered the formal opinion heretofore referred to. Accordingly, the Director in November 1975, by separate order entered in each of the 40 cases, transferred all of them, to the extent curriculum issues were raised therein, to the Department of Education for completion. All complainants, including those here, filed notices of appeal from that administrative action. By interlocutory order heretofore entered by this court, the appeal from the transfer order in respect of the Hinfey complaint is being separately prosecuted; the other 39 cases have been consolidated for appeal purposes and are presently pending in this court.Page 206
We are persuaded that the opinion of the Attorney General, which motivated the action of the Director here appealed from, misconstrued the scope of N.J.S.A. 18A:36--20 and misconceived the history, import and public policy of the Law Against Discrimination. The legal principle upon which the Attorney General relied is the canon of statutory construction by which a later special law is deemed to repeal by implication an earlier general one addressed to the same subject. We do not quarrel with the viability of that principle but rather with its application here. We do not view those provisions of the Law Against Discrimination which confer jurisdiction upon the Division on Civil Rights in respect of school districts to be general at all. Indeed we view them as considerably more specific than N.J.S.A. 18A:36--20. Thus, N.J.S.A. 10:5--4 expressly declares as a civil right the opportunity 'to obtain all the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of any place of public accommodation' without discrimination because of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status or sex. A place of public accommodation is defined by N.J.S.A. 10:5--5 as specifically including 'any kindergarten, primary and secondary school, trade or business school, high school, academy, college and university, or any educational institution under the supervision of the State Board of Education, or the Commissioner of Education of the State of New Jersey.' N.J.S.A. 10:5--6, which creates the Division, also confers upon it 'general jurisdiction and authority' to 'prevent and eliminate discrimination in the manner prohibited by this act'.
There are, further, essential public policy considerations as well which constrain[371 A.2d 81] us to conclude that N.J.S.A. 18A:36--20 was neither intended to repeal the Division's jurisdictional grant nor should be construed to have done so. The Law Against Discrimination is based upon the express legislative finding that discriminatory conduct prohibited by the Act 'threatens not only the rights and proper privileges of the inhabitants of the State but menaces the institutions
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and foundation of a free democratic State * * *.' N.J.S.A. 10:5--3. The act, whose purpose is to eradicate such invidious discrimination, is thus a cornerstone of our fundamental social and political philosophy which demands assiduous and solicitous protection from casual or unintended erosion. Indeed, the entire legislative history of this act has been one of continual enlargement of the power and jurisdiction of the Division to enable it more readily to discharge its awesome responsibilities in the quest for a just society. 5 ThePage 208
judicial construction of the act has been concomitantly liberal and to the same end. 6 We, therefore, cannot read N.J.S.A. 18A:36--20, essentially a broad and general policy statement, as constituting an intended first reversal of a 31-year history of expanding jurisdiction. 7...
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Hinfey v. Matawan Regional Bd. of Educ.
...respect to complaints already filed with it, the jurisdiction of the Division was mandatory and it was required to proceed upon them. 147 N.J.Super. 201, 371 A.2d 78 (1977). A concurring opinion observed that the court's result leaves the Division and Commissioner as competitors in the area......
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B.C. v. Board of Educ., Cumberland Regional School Dist.
...in respect to student opportunities to include gender in the education system. Hinfey v. Matawan Regional Board of Education, 147 N.J.Super. 201, 371 A.2d 78 (App.Div.1977), rev'd on other grounds 77 N.J. 514, 391 A.2d 899 (1978). We did not in that case, as petitioner contends, construe th......
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Leahey v. Singer Sewing Co.
...issues in this case. Both enactments should therefore be viewed together and harmonized. Hinfey v. Matawan Regional Board of Education, 147 N.J.Super. 201, 371 A.2d 78 (App.Div.1977); D.I.A.L. v. Dept. of Community Affairs, 254 N.J.Super. 426, 603 A.2d 967 (App.Div.1992). Plaintiff may ther......
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Gilchrist v. Board of Ed. of Borough of Haddonfield, Camden County
...* * *. (14 N.Y.2d 138, 250 N.Y.S.2d at 45, 199 N.E.2d at 150) On the other hand, our court in Hinfey v. Matawan Reg. Bd. of Ed., 147 N.J.Super. 201, 371 A.2d 78 (App.Div.1977), certif. granted 74 N.J. 264, 377 A.2d 669 (1977), considered whether the enactment by the Legislature in 1973 of N......
-
Hinfey v. Matawan Regional Bd. of Educ.
...to complaints already filed with it, the jurisdiction of the Division was mandatory and it was required to proceed upon them. 147 N.J.Super. 201, 371 A.2d 78 (1977). A concurring opinion observed that the court's result leaves the Division and Commissioner as competitors in the areas of cur......
-
B.C. v. Board of Educ., Cumberland Regional School Dist.
...in respect to student opportunities to include gender in the education system. Hinfey v. Matawan Regional Board of Education, 147 N.J.Super. 201, 371 A.2d 78 (App.Div.1977), rev'd on other grounds 77 N.J. 514, 391 A.2d 899 (1978). We did not in that case, as petitioner contends, construe th......
-
Leahey v. Singer Sewing Co.
...issues in this case. Both enactments should therefore be viewed together and harmonized. Hinfey v. Matawan Regional Board of Education, 147 N.J.Super. 201, 371 A.2d 78 (App.Div.1977); D.I.A.L. v. Dept. of Community Affairs, 254 N.J.Super. 426, 603 A.2d 967 (App.Div.1992). Plaintiff may ther......
-
Gilchrist v. Board of Ed. of Borough of Haddonfield, Camden County
...* * *. (14 N.Y.2d 138, 250 N.Y.S.2d at 45, 199 N.E.2d at 150) On the other hand, our court in Hinfey v. Matawan Reg. Bd. of Ed., 147 N.J.Super. 201, 371 A.2d 78 (App.Div.1977), certif. granted 74 N.J. 264, 377 A.2d 669 (1977), considered whether the enactment by the Legislature in 1973 of N......