Montgomery County v. Broadcast

• Decision Date: 08 September 2000
• Docket Number: No. 141,141
• Citation: 360 Md. 438,758 A.2d 995
• Parties: MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Maryland et al. v. BROADCAST EQUITIES, INC.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

758 A.2d 995

360 Md. 438

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Maryland et al. v. BROADCAST EQUITIES, INC.

No. 141, Sept. Term, 1998.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

September 8, 2000.

Judson P. Garrett, Jr., Principal Counsel for Opinions and Advice (Karen L. Federman Henry, Principal Counsel for Appeals, on brief), Rockville, for petitioners.

John C. Lynch (David N. Ventker, Huff, Poole & Mahoney, P.C., on brief), Virginia Beach, VA, for respondent.

Peter J. Petesch, Ford & Harrison LLP and George A. Davidson, Hughes, Hubbard & Reed, LLP, amici curiae for Boy Scouts of America.

Dwight H. Sullivan, Counsel, ACLU of Maryland, Glendora C. Hughes, Gen. Counsel, and Lee D. Hoshall, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Maryland Com'n on Human Relations, amici curiae for petitioners.

Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL and ROBERT L. KARWACKI (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ.

ELDRIDGE, Judge.

The petitions for a writ of certiorari in this action for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief present three questions pertaining to the authority of a charter county to prohibit employment discrimination. Montgomery County's petition seeks review of the Court of Special Appeals' holding that the Montgomery County employment discrimination ordinances, which allow the County's Commission on Human Relations to award monetary damages in addition to back pay, conflict with the state statute prohibiting employment discrimination, which restricts the type of damages that can be awarded by the Maryland Commission on Human Relations. Broadcast Equities, Inc.'s cross-petition asks us to decide whether our holding in McCrory Corp. v. Fowler, 319 Md. 12, 570 A.2d 834 (1990), invalidated the entire Montgomery County statutory scheme prohibiting employment discrimination or merely invalidated the provision which purported to create a new cause of action in the circuit courts. Alternatively, Broadcast Equities contends that, even if the McCrory holding was limited to the provision relating to a new circuit court cause of action, the entire Montgomery County statutory scheme concerning employment discrimination violates Article XI-A of the Maryland Constitution because it does not constitute a "local law."¹

The instant dispute between Montgomery County and Broadcast Equities also involves numerous other issues which have not been presented to us and which are to be resolved in a separate adjudicatory administrative proceeding now pending before the Montgomery County Commission on Human Relations.

We shall not, under the circumstances of this case, reach the three questions that have been presented by the certiorari petitions. Instead, all of the issues should be resolved in a single case, namely in the administrative proceeding now pending before the Montgomery County Commission on Human Relations and in any circuit court action that may be filed seeking judicial review of a final decision by the County's Commission on Human Relations.²

I.

Before setting forth the facts and arguments in the present controversy, it would be useful to review some of the Montgomery County and the state statutory provisions concerning employment discrimination.

Article I, Chapter 27, of the Montgomery County Code (1994 ed.), establishes the Montgomery County Commission on Human Relations and provides for its jurisdiction. The initial sections of Article I, Chapter 27, §§ 27-1 through 27-7B, recite the County's general anti-discrimination policy and set forth the administration, procedures, and duties of the Commission. The remainder of Article I is divided into four divisions, with each addressing a specific area of discrimination, namely in places of public accommodation, in real estate matters, in employment, and racial and religious intimidation. The case at bar concerns the third division, employment, which is codified at §§ 27-17 through 27-26.

Section 27-18(b) of the Montgomery County Code defines "employer" as "any person, wherever situated, who employs more than six (6) employees within the county, ... or who recruits individuals within the county to apply for employment within the county or elsewhere...." Section 27-19(a) makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to "fail or refuse to hire or fail to accept the services of or to discharge any individual or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment" because of, inter alia, the "sexual orientation of any individual." Section 27-19(f), however, contains an exception to this prohibition as follows:

"(f) The provisions of this division that prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation do not apply to:

(1) Positions of employment that are related to religious activities of an employer if:

a. The employer is:

1. A religious corporation, association, or society;

2. An organization that is affiliated with a religious corporation, association, or society; and

b. The primary purpose of the religious activity is not commercial; and

(2) Any position of employment in a religious school."

Section 27-25 of the Montgomery County Code authorizes the awarding of compensatory damages and other relief for employment discrimination, providing in relevant part as follows:

"Upon a finding by the commission panel that there has been a violation of this division, it may order, in its discretion, and if appropriate, the hiring, reinstatement or upgrading of employees, with or without back pay;.... The commission panel may ... also make the following monetary awards determined by the commission panel from evidence of record as the actual damages, costs or losses involved or in such amounts as may be specified below:

(a) The complainant may be awarded damages not exceeding all income that would have been received from an employer or any other source of income, whether or not that employer or source of income is a respondent hereunder.... This category shall also include the monetary equivalent of all sick leave, annual leave, retirement benefits, annuities, health benefits and every other normal and usual employee benefit, lost during the period of violation; provided, however, back pay liability shall not accrue from a date more than two (2) years prior to the filing of a charge with the commission. Interim earnings, unemployment compensation and/or amounts earnable with reasonable diligence by the person or persons discriminated against shall operate to reduce the back pay otherwise allowable."

Finally, § 27-7(k) generally authorizes the Commission to award various kinds of monetary relief in any case of unlawful discrimination, in addition to the awards provided for in § 27-25 specifically relating to employment discrimination. Section 27-7(k)(4) also provides as follows:

"(4) Damages may also be awarded to compensate complainant or respondent for humiliation and embarrassment suffered in an amount determined by the commission panel to be appropriately and reasonably warranted considering all of the circumstances, but in no event shall the amount be in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00)."

Article I, §§ 2A-11 and 27-7(g) of the Montgomery County Code authorize an action in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County for judicial review of a final decision by the Commission. Section 2A-11 also authorizes an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals from the Circuit Court's decision in such an action.³

The State's anti-discrimination statutes, Code (1957, 1998 Repl.Vol., 1999 Supp.), Art. 49B, §§ 1-39, establish the Maryland Commission on Human Relations and set forth its jurisdiction with regard to discrimination in housing, public accommodations, and employment. In contrast to the employment discrimination provisions in the Montgomery County Code, the state law, although it prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of an individual's race, gender, national origin, and certain other characteristics, does not prohibit employment discrimination because of sexual orientation. See Art. 49B, §§ 14 and 16. Another difference between the state and county statutes is that the authority granted to the Maryland Human Relations Commission in the "Enforcement Powers of Commission," Art. 49B, §§ 9-13, is more limited. In proceedings involving employment discrimination, the Maryland Human Relations Commission may award only breach of contract-type damages, including back pay, for a period up to 36 months. Article 49B, § 11(e), provides in relevant part as follows:

"The hearing examiner shall issue and cause to be served upon the respondent an order requiring the respondent to cease and desist from the discriminatory acts and to take affirmative action to effectuate the purposes of the particular subtitle. If the respondent is found to have engaged in or to be engaging in an unlawful employment practice charged in the complaint, the remedy may include, but is not limited to, reinstatement or hiring of employees, with or without back pay (payable by the employer, employment agency, or labor organization, as the case may be, responsible for the unlawful employment practice), or any other equitable relief that is deemed appropriate. The award of monetary relief shall be limited to a 36-month period. The complainant may not be awarded monetary relief for losses incurred between the time of the Commission's final determination and the final determination by the circuit court or higher appellate court, as the case may be."

This Court has indicated that the above-quoted language does not authorize the Commission to award "tort damages" such as "punitive damages" or compensatory "damages for `pain of mental anguish and humiliation.' " Makovi v. Sherwin-Williams Co., 316 Md. 603, 625-626, 561 A.2d 179, 190 (1989).

Consequently, in employment discrimination cases, the Montgomery County Commission on Human Relations is authorized by local law to award monetary damages for humiliation...