Renda v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm'n

• Decision Date: 14 July 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-0428.,08-0428.
• Citation: 784 N.W.2d 8
• Parties: Melissa Lee RENDA, Appellant,v.IOWA CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

784 N.W.2d 8

Melissa Lee RENDA, Appellant,v.IOWA CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION, Appellee.

No. 08-0428.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

June 4, 2010.

Rehearing Denied July 14, 2010.

Roxanne Barton Conlin and Melinda Ellwanger of Roxanne Conlin & Associates, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Teresa Baustian, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

HECHT, Justice.

Melissa Renda, an inmate at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility, filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) alleging sexual harassment and retaliation in her employment and housing. The ICRC concluded it did not have jurisdiction to hear Renda's complaint because the correctional facility was not a “dwelling,” and, as an inmate, Renda was not an “employee” for purposes of the Iowa Civil Rights Act (the Act). Renda sought judicial review, and the district court affirmed the decision of the ICRC. On appeal, we agree that a correctional facility is not a dwelling for purposes of the Act, but we conclude Renda's status as an inmate working within the prison did not necessarily preclude her status as an employee. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Melissa Renda filed a complaint with the ICRC on June 27, 2007. According to the complaint, Renda began working as a receiving and discharge clerk in November 2005 while she was incarcerated at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility. According to Renda, the clerk position was the most respected and highest paid job within the prison. Shortly after she started working in the receiving and discharge department, officer Jim Ackles, who also worked in the department, began making romantic overtures toward her. In addition to the sexual advances, Ackles also gave her gifts and money in violation of prison policy. At one point, he forced her to forge a property receipt to cover up the fact that he had given her a CD. Ackles threatened to have Renda transferred to the correctional institution in Mitchellville if she reported his conduct to prison authorities.

In June of 2006, Renda was approached by an investigator following up on an anonymous report of Ackles' inappropriate behavior. Out of fear, Renda refused to talk to the investigator and was punished by being placed in solitary confinement for nine days. After getting out of solitary confinement, she returned to her job but was fired a few days later “on trumped up charges.” Eventually, Renda cooperated with the investigation into officer Ackles' behavior, and when the investigation was closed, Renda was informed that she was “100% credible” and that her allegations were “founded.” Despite the results of the investigation, Renda became depressed about the ordeal and lost her “level 4 status” because she was irritable to others. She felt ostracized, and she was later denied a job in the recreation department because of the forged property receipt incident.

In her complaint filed with the ICRC, Renda claimed she was discriminated against on the basis of her sex and that she was retaliated against in the areas of employment and housing. The ICRC closed her complaint as “non-jurisdictional” because the complaint did “not allege a ‘discriminatory practice’ as defined by Iowa Code Chapter 216.” Specifically, the ICRC determined that an inmate is not considered an employee and a prison is not considered a dwelling under the Act.

Renda sought judicial review, and the district court affirmed the decision of the ICRC. Renda appeals.

II. Scope and Standards of Review.

Judicial review of an agency decision is controlled by the provisions of Iowa Code section 17A.19(10) (2009).¹ ABC Disposal Sys., Inc. v. Dep't of Natural Res., 681 N.W.2d 596, 601 (Iowa 2004). We will apply the standards of section 17A.19(10) to determine if we reach the same results as the district court. Id. The district court may grant relief if the agency action has prejudiced the substantial rights of the petitioner and if the agency action meets one of the enumerated criteria contained in section 17A.19(10)( a ) through ( n ). Id.

The parties disagree about whether subsection ( c ) or ( l ) applies to our review of ICRC's interpretation of the terms “employee” and “dwelling” as used in the Act. Renda contends section 17A.19(10)( c ) applies because the ICRC has not been clearly vested with the authority to interpret the Act, and accordingly, we are free to substitute our judgment for that of the ICRC. See Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)( c ). The ICRC argues subsection ( l ) applies because it has been vested with the authority to interpret the Act, and, as a result, we must defer to the agency's interpretation and may only reverse if the interpretation is “irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable.” Id. § 17A.19(10)( l ).

We begin by noting that despite the parties' articulation of the issue as whether the ICRC has the authority to interpret the Act, we do not view the issue so broadly. The focus of our inquiry is not whether the ICRC has the authority to interpret the entire Act. Rather, we must determine whether the interpretation of the specific terms “employee” and “dwelling” has been clearly vested in the discretion of the commission.

We have not addressed the standard of review of statutory interpretation by the ICRC subsequent to the amendment and clarification of chapter 17A in 1998. We addressed the standard of review of the ICRC's interpretation of various provisions of the Act on several occasions before chapter 17A was amended. Unfortunately, however, many of our decisions from that period did not clearly articulate the standard of review applied in reviewing the commission's statutory interpretations. In Good v. Iowa Civil Rights Commission, 368 N.W.2d 151 (Iowa 1985), we concluded that

[i]n reviewing an administrative agency's interpretation of a statute, this court may give some weight to the agency's determination, but “the meaning of a statute is always a matter of law, and final construction and interpretation of Iowa statutory law is for this court.” Our review in this case, however, is not without its limited perimeters. Although construction of this statute is a function of the courts, we have always held that a reviewing court should give appropriate weight to the judgment of the agencies charged with the special duty of administering a particular statute.

Good, 368 N.W.2d at 155 (quoting Schmitt v. Iowa Dep't of Soc. Servs., 263 N.W.2d 739, 745 (Iowa 1978)); see also

Sommers v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm'n, 337 N.W.2d 470, 472 (Iowa 1983) (stating that when reviewing the ICRC's interpretation of statutory provisions “we may give deference to, but are not bound by,” the ICRC's interpretation because “[t]he ultimate interpretation of Iowa statutory law is the province of the supreme court”). We do not find these early articulations of the level of deference to be granted the ICRC's statutory interpretation particularly illuminating to our determination of whether subsection ( c ) or ( l ) of the current section 17A.19(10) applies.

The amendments to chapter 17A clarified when the court should give deference to an agency's interpretation of law.

Normally, the interpretation of a statute is a pure question of law over which agencies are not delegated any special powers by the General Assembly so, a court is free to, and usually does, substitute its judgment de novo for that of the agency and determine if the agency interpretation of the statute is correct.... But, where the General Assembly clearly delegates discretionary authority to an agency to interpret or elaborate a statutory term based on the agency's own special expertness, the court may not simply substitute its view as to the meaning or elaboration of the term for that of the agency but, instead, may reverse the agency interpretation or elaboration only if it is arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, or an abuse of discretion-a deferential standard of review.

Arthur E. Bonfield Amendments to Iowa Administrative Procedure Act, Report on Selected Provisions to Iowa State Bar Association and Iowa State Government 62 (1998) [hereinafter Bonfield]. Notably, section 17A.10( c ) does not require that the discretion be “expressly” vested in the agency, but instead uses the less restrictive term “clearly.”

This means that the reviewing court, using its own independent judgment and without any required deference to the agency's view, must have a firm conviction from reviewing the precise language of the statute, its context, the purpose of the statute, and the practical considerations involved, that the legislature actually intended (or would have intended had it thought about the question) to delegate to the agency interpretive power with the binding force of law over the elaboration of the provision in question.

Id. at 63.

The question of whether interpretive discretion has clearly been vested in an agency is easily resolved when the agency's enabling statute explicitly addresses the issue. For example, in Iowa Ass'n of School Boards v. Iowa Department of Education, 739 N.W.2d 303 (Iowa 2007), we noted that the enabling statute provided the director of the department of education “ ‘shall ... [i]nterpret the school laws and rules relating to the school laws.’ ” Iowa Ass'n of Sch. Bds., 739 N.W.2d at 307 (alterations in original) (quoting Iowa Code § 256.9(16) (2003)). The explicit grant of authority made clear the General Assembly's intent to vest the discretion to interpret the laws with the department, and we concluded that the department's interpretation was entitled to deference pursuant to section 17A.19(10)( c ). Similarly, in Mosher v. Department of Inspections & Appeals, 671 N.W.2d 501, 509-10 (Iowa 2003), we concluded that because the General Assembly had explicitly given the authority to interpret the phrase “dependent adult” to a different agency, by implication it had not delegated...