Larrance v. Illinois Human Rights Com'n

• Decision Date: 01 March 1988
• Docket Number: No. 4-87-0205,4-87-0205
• Citation: 166 Ill.App.3d 224,117 Ill.Dec. 36,519 N.E.2d 1203
• Parties: , 117 Ill.Dec. 36 Charles LARRANCE, Petitioner, v. The ILLINOIS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Macon County Farm Bureau, Country Casualty Insurance Company, Country Insurance Company, Country Mutual Insurance Company, Country Life Insurance Company, and Country Capital Management Company, Respondents.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1203

519 N.E.2d 1203

166 Ill.App.3d 224, 117 Ill.Dec. 36

Charles LARRANCE, Petitioner, v. The ILLINOIS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Macon County Farm Bureau Country Casualty Insurance Company, Country Insurance Company, Country Mutual Insurance Company, Country Life Insurance Company, and Country Capital Management Company Respondents.

No. 4-87-0205.

Appellate Court of Illinois Fourth District.

March 1, 1988.

Rehearing Denied March 25, 1988.

Jon D. Robinson, Hull, Campbell & Robinson, Decatur, for petitioner.

Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, Chicago, Bernard Harrold, Anne G. Kimball, James D. Fiffer, David B. Stumpf, Bloomington, for Macon County Farm Bureau, Country Cas. Ins. Co., Country Ins. Co., Country Mut. Ins., Country Life Ins. Co. and Country Capital Mgmt. Co.

Justice McCULLOUGH delivered the opinion of the court:

Petitioner appeals an order of the Illinois Human Rights Commission (Commission) which dismissed his complaint. The Commission found it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the cause. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 68, par. 7-102(A)(1).) Petitioner argues: (1) the Commission erred in retroactively applying Board of Governors v. Rothbardt (1981), 98 Ill.App.3d 423, 53 Ill.Dec. 951, 424 N.E.2d 742; (2) principles of equitable tolling apply in the instant cause; (3) petitioner's formal charge should be found to relate back to his complainant information sheet (CIS) so as to create a timely charge; and (4) dismissal of petitioner's cause of action because of a State procedure denied him due process.

We affirm.

Petitioner filed his employment-discrimination charge on November 15, 1979. The administrative law judge found for petitioner. On October 27, 1982, respondents filed exceptions to the recommended order and decision, arguing lack of jurisdiction. Petitioner filed a motion to produce additional information. On January 7, 1982, the Commission denied petitioner's motion but on its own motion, remanded for a hearing on the circumstances surrounding the filing. Respondents filed suit in the circuit court to prohibit the hearing on remand. The circuit court ruled the Commission could order an additional hearing. On appeal, this court, in Country Casualty Insurance Co. v. Human Rights Comm'n (1984, 4th Dist.), 127 Ill.App.3d 1170, 91 Ill.Dec. 387, 483 N.E.2d 733 (order under Supreme Court Rule 23), affirmed the circuit court. The facts relevant to the instant appeal stem from information obtained at the supplemental hearing.

Petitioner had been hired by respondents, Country Casualty Insurance Company, Country Insurance Company, Country Mutual Insurance Company, Country Life Insurance Company, and Country Capital Management Company (Country Companies) in 1956. In 1962, he was made agency manager in Macon County. On April 30, 1979, petitioner received a letter telling him his employment would be terminated, effective May 31, 1979.

On July 9, 1979, petitioner contacted the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) in Springfield. Petitioner testified that he had not talked to an attorney at that time. He completed a form entitled "Complainant Information Sheet." On that form, he indicated his termination was due to a heart attack which occurred in 1976. The only document he brought to the meeting was the termination letter. Petitioner stated that he told the intake representative that the name of his employer was Country Companies. George Crawford, the intake representative, told petitioner that he had until the end of November to file a formal charge. Petitioner never calculated the last day on which he could file the charge.

Petitioner further testified that Crawford took notes and raised a question about whether petitioner could file a charge. Crawford indicated the FEPC would decide whether or not to accept the charge. Crawford needed to discuss the matter with his superiors and would contact petitioner. Crawford did not ask for additional information on July 9, 1979.

Petitioner stated Crawford gave him a brochure on July 9, 1979, and he looked at it. Between July 9, and October 29, 1979, petitioner called the FEPC office to check on the status of his cause. On October 29, 1979, the FEPC contacted him to ask for his employment contracts. He brought them in the same day. On October 31, 1979, he met with Crawford. They discussed his heart attack. After he brought in his employment contracts, the individual companies were charged separately.

On November 15, 1979, petitioner signed a formal complaint. No one indicated a timeliness problem. Petitioner stated that although he met with an attorney concerning renewal income from Country Companies to which he felt entitled, he and his attorney did not discuss his employment discrimination action. He would have signed a charge on July 9, 1979, if he had been given one.

On cross-examination, petitioner agreed that the CIS form states it is not a legal charge. On October 4, 1979, his attorney drafted a letter seeking commissions. In the letter, counsel states that if the additional commission is not forthcoming, the employment discrimination action will be pursued. Petitioner denied delaying filing because of the dispute.

Crawford stated that anyone who wished to file a complaint would be assigned a representative, who gathered the needed information. If the criteria were met, the representative would prepare a charge. The complainant would then sign it. Crawford met plaintiff on July 9, 1979. The CIS is a general information sheet which a complainant completes. The intake officer reviews the CIS before interviewing the complainant to determine if there is a charge.

Crawford stated that he told petitioner he needed to determine a couple of factors and would have to discuss those issues with his supervisor before knowing whether the FEPC would be able to proceed with the charge. Crawford outlined the procedure for petitioner. Crawford believed that May 31, 1979, was the date of the discriminatory act. This was the FEPC's position in 1979. Petitioner, therefore, had 180 days from that date to file his action. He told petitioner the FEPC would decide whether it would accept the charge for filing. Crawford stated that the brochure he gave petitioner did not contain an indication that the FEPC would automatically file complaints or that a complainant may demand a charge be filed.

Crawford further stated that at the time petitioner came in charges were not automatically accepted for filing. The policy changed after July 1980. Petitioner's charge was not accepted on July 9, 1979, and Crawford did not draft a charge for him. Crawford had a question about whether petitioner was an employee. However, he covered all the jurisdictional prerequisites and could have prepared a charge on July 9, 1979.

Crawford stated that petitioner cooperated. After Crawford had a meeting with his supervisor, he prepared a charge on October 31, 1979. He and his supervisors had determined that petitioner was an employee under the Fair Employment Practices Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 48, par. 852(c)). Petitioner signed the charge on November 15, 1979.

Crawford admitted that now the Commission will file a charge if a complainant insists even if the jurisdictional prerequisites are not fulfilled.

Sandra Jean Kimberly, an intake representative with the Commission, stated that when she first started, a complainant had 180 days from the last day of employment to file a charge. Now, a complainant has 180 days from the date he is told of his termination to file. She believed the change occurred after January 1, 1980. However, it had always been a practice to accept a charge if the complainant wanted one filed, regardless of whether the intake representative wanted him to file a charge. She tells complainants this fact. The policy in effect when plaintiff filed his charge was to file charges even if a question existed about their validity.

The documents indicate plaintiff was not told that he could insist on filing a charge and Crawford asked plaintiff to bring in his contracts on July 9, 1979.

A supplemental recommended order and decision (SROD) was filed on November 12, 1985. The hearing officer found Rothbardt applied but that the Commission's actions caused the tardy filing. Therefore, the hearing officer felt that the Commission had jurisdiction pursuant to United States Supreme Court cases. He also found the November 15, 1979, charge was not an amendment of an earlier charge so did not relate back to the CIS. The Commission did not follow the recommendation and found that it did not have jurisdiction. It also found the United States Supreme Court cases were distinguishable.

Initially, petitioner argues Rothbardt should not apply retroactively to his cause because he justifiably relied on an administrative interpretation of the charge-filing limitations period. He had no choice but to rely upon the administrative agency. Respondents point out that the Rothbardt court itself retroactively applied its decision, that the degree of untimeliness is irrelevant in determining retroactivity, and petitioner's reliance on existing administrative interpretation of the law does not affect the applicability of Rothbardt to his case.

In Rothbardt, this court held that an aggrieved employee had 180 days from the time he was notified of termination of employment to file a charge under the Fair Employment Practices Act, interpreting section 8 of the Fair Employment Practices Act. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1973, ch. 48, par. 858.) Rothbardt, a college professor, was notified that she would not be given tenure. She then received a terminal contract. She filed a charge within 180 days of her last actual day of work but in excess of 180 days of the date of the notice. The Board of Governors raised a jurisdictional question throughout.

The circuit court found the agency lacked jurisdiction over the cause. The appellate court affirmed, holding that...