Montana Rail Link v. Byard

• Decision Date: 16 September 1993
• Docket Number: No. 93-103,93-103
• Parties: , 63 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,626 MONTANA RAIL LINK, Petitioner/Respondent, v. M. Jane BYARD and the Montana Human Rights Commission, Respondents/Appellants.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 121

860 P.2d 121

260 Mont. 331, 63 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,626

MONTANA RAIL LINK, Petitioner/Respondent, v. M. Jane BYARD and the Montana Human Rights Commission Respondents/Appellants.

No. 93-103.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted July 20, 1993.

Decided Sept. 16, 1993.

Edward A. Murphy, Datsopoulos, MacDonald & Lind, Missoula, for petitioner/respondent.

David Rusoff, Human Rights Commission, Helena, Montana; Joan Jonkel, Missoula, for respondents/appellants.

NELSON, Justice.

Before the Court is Petitioner's appeal from a Fourth Judicial District Court, Missoula County, order affirming the Montana Human Rights Commission determination that Montana Rail Link (MRL) discriminated against the Respondent M. Jane Byard (Byard) in violation of the Montana We restate the issues on appeal:

                Human Rights Act, based on her sex.   We affirm
                

I. Did the hearing examiner err in allowing Byard to amend her complaint?

II. Did the hearing examiner err in allowing the testimony of Dr. Hocker?

III. Did the hearing examiner err in prohibiting the testimony of Ron Dean?

IV. Did the hearing examiner err in concluding that MRL subjected Byard to discriminatory treatment?

V. Did the hearing examiner err in concluding that MRL's hiring practices had a disparate impact on women?

BACKGROUND

Byard was hired by Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) in 1977. She received a promotion in November of 1978 when she became an engineer. Byard is currently employed as a BN engineer in Havre, Montana, although she is on a leave of absence. She initially worked in Missoula, Montana and maintained a residence there.

In July of 1987, BN reached an agreement with MRL to acquire a portion of the rail line called "Southline" which ran from Huntley, Montana to Sandpoint, Idaho. William Brodsky was appointed president of the new line. It was Mr. Brodsky's responsibility to staff the new line with BN employees presently working on the Southline, if possible, because of their experience and familiarity with that section of track.

Mr. Brodsky also stated his intention to work out an agreement with the local unions who represented the BN employees. The two unions representing the BN employees were United Transportation Union (UTU) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE). MRL and the BLE reached an agreement in September of 1987, giving the Southline employees "preferential hiring in seniority order, as such seniority is stated on the current applicable Burlington Northern (BN)--seniority district rosters...." MRL did, however, reserve the right to seek employees from other sources if it could not reach the minimum operating requirements through the hiring of BN employees. In addition, it could reject BN employees who did not meet MRL's hiring standards.

The MRL management then scheduled a number of meetings across the Southline for the purpose of introducing potential employees to MRL, its goals and its philosophies. BN offered its employees the opportunity to stay with BN, working outside of the Southline track or apply to MRL to work on the Southline. BN assisted MRL in its attempt to hire Southline BN employees, even offering engineers who applied with MRL $25,000 if they accepted positions with MRL. MRL used town meetings, letters to BN Southline employees and word-of-mouth advertising to solicit employees.

As a BN Southline employee wishing to remain in the Missoula area, Byard attended a MRL informational meeting at the University of Montana in Missoula with her husband, Byron Weber (Weber). William Brodsky, and Ron Dean, a negotiator with the BLE, spoke at the meeting in an attempt to persuade BN employees to join MRL. Brodsky stressed the team approach which would characterize MRL, unlike traditional railroads. He also stated that BN employees would be given every opportunity to have their many questions about MRL answered by management.

After that meeting, BN employees received a letter and application from MRL. The letter stated that MRL representatives would be available at various locations at scheduled dates and times to "answer questions, accept application and conduct interviews." The letter encouraged the applicants to attend the meetings and bring their questions. If they could not attend the meetings, they should mail their applications to MRL.

Byard completed her application and submitted it for an engineer position, bringing the application to MRL's Missoula office accompanied by her husband. She assumed, due to Mr. Brodsky's presentation at the earlier meeting and letters from MRL representatives following the meeting Byard met initially with George Harper (Harper), a consultant to MRL, who was ultimately hired as Assistant Superintendent of Railroads for MRL. Byard had prepared questions about certain benefits she was interested in, including maternity leave, time-off and the physical examination clause. Byard asked Harper about maternity leave and as he searched for an answer, John Grewell (Grewell), Superintendent of Railroads and former supervisor of Byard, entered the room.

that the main purpose of the interview sessions was to provide prospective employees with the chance to ask questions about MRL and therefore brought her husband with her.

Grewell assumed control of the interview and when Byard asked Grewell about maternity leave, he stated, "I think they'd let you have some time off two weeks before you are supposed to deliver." No more was said about the maternity leave policy.

Byard asked about the time-off policy, wondering if she could only expect one "personal" day off per month. Grewell stated, "That's a hell of a lot more than you are getting right now."

Clause 29b of the application form stated that a MRL employee agrees "[t]o permit a physical examination of myself at such times and places and under the supervision of such doctor or doctors as may be selected by [MRL]." Byard was uncomfortable with this clause and stated her feeling that it was offensive to women. Grewell disagreed with her position and informed her that no one else had taken offense to the clause and everyone had signed the application up to that point. He stated that the clause concerned drug testing and physicals. Byard wondered why that was not made clear on the application. She asserted that under that wording "she could be subject to a physical examination by a math professor at Garrison at three o'clock in the morning." Ultimately, she signed her application but wrote on the application that "I do not include my signature on 29b as it is presently worded."

Grewell produced another form for "Physical Examination and Alcohol and Drug Testing Authorization," stating that if she did not want to sign Clause 29b, then she would not want to sign this one either. However, this form was quite specific concerning blood and urine tests for the presence of alcohol and other drugs. Byard had no qualms about signing this form and signed it later at her home.

Grewell then took Byard's application and told her to complete the other forms and drop them off at the office. Weber dropped the forms off at MRL's Missoula office within a couple days of the interview. When Byard did not hear from MRL, she called the MRL office and she was told by a representative that he thought she had not signed her application. She cleared up that misunderstanding and was later told by the representative that her application had been denied, with no reason for the denial given. In April of 1988, Byard filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against MRL, contending that MRL would not hire her because of her sex.

Byard continued to work for BN as an engineer but had to move to Whitefish to work on a different line. She became pregnant and took an early maternity leave in March of 1988 and gave birth to a son in July of 1988. She returned to work at BN, moving to Havre in January of 1989, taking her son with her. Byard took a leave of absence from her position at BN shortly before her hearing before the Human Rights Commission (Commission) hearing examiner in April of 1990.

The hearing took place on April 25 through April 27, 1990, and continued from May 14 through May 16, 1990. The hearing examiner issued her Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Proposed Order in April of 1991. She concluded that MRL had unlawfully discriminated against Byard based on her sex, and awarded Byard damages. MRL filed exceptions to the proposed order and in September of 1991, oral argument was held before the Commission. The Commission filed its Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and MRL appealed the Commission's decision and after reviewing the briefs, oral argument and a review of the Human Rights Commission file, the District Court affirmed the Commission in an opinion dated December 17, 1992. The present appeal followed. Additional facts will be included as necessary.

Final Order dated October 2, 1991, affirming the hearing examiner's proposed Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Proposed Order in substantial part.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The standard of review for conclusions of law is whether the agency's interpretation of the law is correct. Steer Inc. v. Department of Revenue (1990), 245 Mont. 470, 474, 803 P.2d 601, 603. The standard of abuse of discretion is applied to discretionary rulings, such as trial administration issues, post-trial motions and similar rulings. Steer, 803 P.2d at 603-604.

I. AMENDMENT OF COMPLAINT

MRL contends that the original charge in Byard's complaint alleged disparate treatment but in her proposed prehearing order, she alleged a disparate impact theory as well as a disparate treatment theory. Byard counters that "[i]n April of 1990, two weeks prior to the beginning of the hearing, Byard submitted a PreHearing Memorandum. In her memorandum, Byard contended that MRL violated the Human Rights Act under two theories, disparate treatment (intentional discrimination) and disparate impact (application of...