Maggio v. Fla. Dept. of Labor & Emp. Sec.

• Decision Date: 24 March 2005
• Docket Number: No. SC04-755.,SC04-755.
• Citation: 899 So.2d 1074
• Parties: Janet MAGGIO, Petitioner, v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, etc., Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

899 So.2d 1074

Janet MAGGIO, Petitioner, v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, etc., Respondent.

No. SC04-755.

Supreme Court of Florida.

March 24, 2005.

Gary Lee Printy, Tallahassee, FL, for Petitioner.

Nancy A. Chad and Jay P. Lechner of Zinober and McCrea, P.A., Tampa, FL, for Respondent.

John C. Davis, Tallahassee, Florida on behalf of National Employment Lawyers Association, Florida Chapter; and F. Damon Kitchen and Jack R. Wallace of Constangy, Brooks and Smith, LLC, Jacksonville, FL, on behalf of Florida Department of Financial Services, for Amici Curiae.

PARIENTE, C.J.

We have for review Maggio v. Department of Labor & Employment Security, 869 So.2d 690 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004), in which the Second District Court of Appeal certified the following question as a matter of great public importance:

ARE CLAIMS FILED PURSUANT TO THE FLORIDA CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1992 TORT CLAIMS AND THUS SUBJECT TO THE PRESUIT NOTICE REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION 768.28(6), FLORIDA STATUTES (2003)?

Id. at 692. We have jurisdiction.¹

We rephrase the question as follows:

ARE CLAIMS FILED PURSUANT TO THE FLORIDA CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1992 SUBJECT TO THE PRESUIT NOTICE REQUIREMENTS

OF SECTION 768.28(6), FLORIDA STATUTES (2003)?

We answer the rephrased question in the negative and hold that claims filed pursuant to the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 are not subject to the presuit notice requirements of section 768.28(6).

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Janet Maggio, who is legally blind, was employed by the State of Florida Department of Labor and Employment Security and its successor agency, the State of Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation (collectively the "DLES"), as a customer service specialist from April 15, 1985, until her resignation on May 15, 1998. In compliance with the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, Maggio filed a charge of discrimination with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC furnished a copy of the charge to the Florida Commission on Human Relations (FCHR). After failing to receive a reasonable cause determination from the FCHR, Maggio filed suit against the DLES. In her complaint, filed December 19, 2001, Maggio alleged that the DLES had unlawfully discriminated against her on the basis of her handicap in violation of the Act. The DLES filed a motion to dismiss for Maggio's noncompliance with the statutory presuit notice requirements of section 768.28(6).

The trial court found that Maggio's claim was a tort claim, and thus subject to the presuit notice requirements delineated in section 768.28(6). The trial court also found that it was impossible at that point for Maggio to comply with these requirements because the three-year period for notifying the State of a claim against it had expired.² Therefore, the trial court dismissed Maggio's complaint with prejudice.

On appeal, the Second District affirmed. Persuaded by the analysis and reasoning in Scott v. Otis Elevator Co., 572 So.2d 902 (Fla.1990) (Scott II), and Bearelly v. State Department of Corrections, No. 63-2001-CA-046, 2002 WL 982429 (Fla. 8th Cir.Ct. Apr. 10, 2002), the Second District concluded that Maggio's claim was a tort claim because it arose from "personal rights that are granted and guaranteed by legislative act," and existed independent of the employment contract. Maggio, 869 So.2d at 691. However, because there was no controlling precedent specifically holding that disability discrimination claims brought pursuant to the Act are subject to the presuit notice requirements of section 768.28(6), the Second District certified the question to this Court as a matter of great public importance.

II. ANALYSIS

To answer the rephrased question, we must determine whether the Legislature intended claims filed under the Florida Civil Rights Act to be subject to the presuit notice requirements of section 768.28(6). Statutory construction is a question of law subject to de novo review. BellSouth Telecomms., Inc. v. Meeks, 863 So.2d 287, 289 (Fla.2003).

"When construing a statutory provision, legislative intent is the polestar that guides" the Court's inquiry. State v. Rife, 789 So.2d 288, 292 (Fla.2001) (quoting McLaughlin v. State, 721 So.2d 1170, 1172 (Fla.1998)). Legislative intent is determined primarily from the language of the statute. See id. Thus, we look first to the language used in the Act. See Delta Property Mgmt., Inc., v. Profile Invs., Inc., 875 So.2d 443, 447 (Fla.2004); Joshua v. City of Gainesville, 768 So.2d 432, 435 (Fla. 2000).

The Florida Civil Rights Act is a remedial statute that the Legislature has expressly provided is to be "liberally construed to further the general purposes" of the Act and the particular provisions involved. § 760.01(3), Fla. Stat. (2003); see also Woodham v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Inc., 829 So.2d 891, 897 (Fla. 2002) (stating that "we are guided by the stated statutory purpose of liberally construing the [Act] in favor of a remedy for those who are victims of discrimination, and the companion principle that requires us to narrowly construe statutory provisions that restrict access to the courts"); Joshua, 768 So.2d at 435 ("We are guided by the Legislature's stated purpose for enacting ... chapter [760] and its directive that the Act be liberally construed...."). Under certain circumstances, the Act creates a statutory right to maintain a civil cause of action when a violation occurs. However, the Act first requires that the claimant comply with a set of presuit administrative procedures. See § 760.11(1), Fla. Stat. (2003).³ Further, although a claimant who brings a civil action may receive compensatory damages, section 760.11(5) expressly states that the total recovery against the State cannot "exceed the limitation as set forth in s. 768.28(5)."

The question in this case is whether the Legislature intended a claimant who is suing a state agency for a civil rights violation to comply not only with the administrative presuit requirements of section 760.11, but also with the notice requirements of section 768.28(6). Section 768.28 is titled, "Waiver of sovereign immunity in tort actions; recovery limits; limitation on attorney fees; statute of limitations; exclusions; indemnification; risk management programs." Section 768.28(6)(a) sets forth the presuit notice procedures that a plaintiff must follow in order to benefit from the State's waiver of sovereign immunity. Subsection (6)(a) provides:

An action may not be instituted on a claim against the state or one of its agencies or subdivisions unless the claimant presents the claim in writing to the appropriate agency, and also, except as to any claim against a municipality or the Florida Space Authority, presents such claim in writing to the Department of Financial Services, within 3 years after such claim accrues and the Department of Financial Services or the appropriate agency denies the claim in writing; except that if such claim is for contribution pursuant to s. 768.31, it must be so presented within 6 months after the judgment against the tortfeasor seeking contribution has become final by lapse of time for appeal or after appellate review or, if there is no such judgment, within 6 months after the tortfeasor seeking contribution has either discharged the common liability by payment or agreed, while the action is pending against her or him, to discharge the common liability.

DLES asserts that the Florida Civil Rights Act should be read in pari materia with section 768.28 to impose both sets of presuit requirements. Under this principle of statutory construction, when two statutes relate to the same thing or to the same subject or object, the statutes are construed together so as to harmonize both statutes and give effect to the Legislature's intent. See McGhee v. Volusia County, 679 So.2d 729, 730 n. 1 (Fla.1996) (the doctrine of in pari materia requires courts to construe related statutes together so that they are harmonized).

Three important aspects of the Florida Civil Rights Act compel the conclusion that the Act is a stand-alone statutory scheme specifically designed to address civil rights violations regardless of whether the State is a named defendant. First, the State's waiver of sovereign immunity for civil rights claims derives from the Florida Civil Rights Act, not from the waiver of sovereign immunity contained in section 768.28. Second, the inclusion of detailed presuit requirements within the Act, which serve to place the State on notice of the alleged violation, suggests that the Legislature did not intend to require compliance with an additional unreferenced notice provision. And third, the express reference in the Act to section 768.28(5), but not to section 768.28(6), supports the conclusion that the Legislature did not intend that the provisions of section 768.28(6) apply to the Act. We discuss each of these aspects of the Act in turn.

First, the Florida Civil Rights Act contains a waiver of sovereign immunity independent of the waiver contained in section 768.28. Section 760.10(1)(a), Florida Statutes (2003), provides that it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer 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." Under the Act, the term "employer" is defined to mean "any person employing 15 or more employees ... and any agent of such person." § 760.02(7), Fla. Stat. (2003) (emphasis added). The Act further defines "person" to include "the state; or any governmental entity or agency." § 760.02(6), Fla. Stat. (2003). The inclusion of the State in the definition of "person" and, hence, "employer" evidences a clear, specific, and unequivocal intent to waive sovereign immunity. See Klonis v. State Dep't of Revenue, 766 So.2d 1186, 1190 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000) (stating that "the...