Title: Dean v. Metropolitan Seattle

State: washington

Issuer: Washington Supreme Court

Document:

104 Wn.2d 627 (1985) 708 P.2d 393 LARRY D. DEAN, Respondent, v. THE MUNICIPALITY OF METROPOLITAN SEATTLE, Appellant. No. 51138-1. The Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc. October 31, 1985. *628 Preston, Thorgrimson, Ellis & Holman, by Michael E. Cavanaugh, for appellant. Halverson & Strong, Sidney J. Strong, and Abraham A. Arditi, for respondent. CALLOW, J. This case is before us on direct review from a jury verdict awarding the plaintiff Larry Dean $80,000 on his complaint. The defendant Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Metro) appeals raising as issues (1) the extent of the duty of an employer to accommodate a worker who becomes handicapped while employed; (2) the burden on a handicapped worker of showing his qualifications for available jobs to establish a prima facie case of discrimination; and (3) whether a plaintiff must prove that a defendant employer intentionally engaged in outrageous and extreme conduct in order to recover damages for emotional distress and mental anguish. We affirm. Dean was a bus driver for Metro until April 1979 when he lost the sight of his right eye due to disease. He remained an employee by first using up his sick leave and disability and then taking leave without pay. He resigned in December 1979 in order to obtain his retirement money and later filed suit claiming that Metro had failed to accommodate his disability. At the time of trial, Dean was 31 years old. The evidence showed that he had graduated from high school with an emphasis on business. He graduated from junior college with a degree in physical education. While in junior college he had been employed in construction work, brick laying, cement masonry, demolition, and custodial and janitorial work. He also had had experience in furniture repair, machine repair, electrical work and had operated machines *629 for a company manufacturing truck interiors. He also had repaired cars and overhauled automobile engines and transmissions. After junior college, Dean majored in law enforcement at Portland State University. He left Portland State one and a half quarters short of receiving his bachelor's degree for a short-lived professional football career. Thereafter he became a correctional officer at the Washington State Reformatory. In June 1976, he was hired by the Bellevue Police Department as a patrol officer. He then graduated from the Seattle Police Academy and was commissioned. He resigned from the Bellevue Police Department in December 1976. Dean started working for Metro in May 1977, satisfied a probationary period and became a full-time bus driver. In the summer of 1978 he contracted a disease known as sarcoidosis. This particularly affected his right eye and by April 1979 he was almost blind in that eye. His physician, Dr. Stapleton, told him that he should no longer drive a bus and wrote to Dean's supervisor including, in part, the diagnosis "[S]arcoidosis with neuritis and severe vision loss in right eye". The doctor determined that he was physically able to perform other jobs and could drive an automobile. Dean took Dr. Stapleton's note to his immediate supervisor and asked about his options. According to Dean's testimony he was willing to accept lower paying jobs. Dean's immediate supervisor erroneously told Dean that he could not apply for the position of equipment service operator because his eye condition prevented him from being a bus driver and only active bus drivers could apply for the equipment service operator position. As a result neither the immediate supervisor nor anyone else at Metro told Dean of a May 1979 equipment service operator opening, a position for which Metro concedes Dean's qualifications. Dean testified he would have accepted the position had it been offered. The equipment service operator position was a key one, *630 since prior experience in that position was a qualification requirement for the positions of equipment service operator hostler and lead equipment service operator supervisor, two positions which had openings during the period Dean was seeking another position and which were of interest to Dean. Metro agreed that the qualification would have been satisfied and Dean would otherwise have met minimum qualifications for these positions had he been advised of the opening for the equipment service operator position in May 1979. Dean's immediate boss referred him to an equal employment officer, who was instructed by the personnel manager to assist Dean in finding other employment with Metro. At Dean's request, the equal employment officer met with him on two occasions. The equal employment officer claimed Dean never gave him an updated medical report as requested nor information beyond that in his resume about his prior work experience and skills. The equal employment officer conceded that he did not seek out medical information already on file with Metro, he did not speak with Dean's doctor, and did not look at Dean's personnel file until he was preparing for trial. There is evidence that Dean applied for, or was qualified for, several Metro positions, but was not interviewed for them. Metro sent him form rejection letters giving standard, nonindividualized reasons for the rejections. The equal employment officer acknowledged that he did not discuss many of the job openings with Dean and further acknowledged that Dean would probably have qualified for several of them, including custodian, general laborer, office service worker, and, if Dean had had previous experience as an equipment service operator, for equipment service operator hostler and lead equipment service operator supervisor. The opening for a "transit police officer" received a great deal of attention during the trial. The record reflects that Dean was unaware of the position until after he left Metro. Primarily the transit police officer was responsible for riding on selected Metro buses to provide security. When the *631 equal employment officer spoke to his supervisor about transit police officer as a possible position for Dean, the supervisor rejected the suggestion saying Metro's practice was to use Seattle police officers for the position. The director of personnel from the Seattle Police Department testified there was no legal reason why Dean could not have been given a special police commission to perform the duties of a transit police officer. In December, after exhausting his leave and other resources, Dean resigned in order to obtain his retirement money. He went to California, but returned in March 1980. Shortly thereafter he met with the equal employment officer. Dean testified that the equal employment officer told him Metro had no policy regarding handicapped accommodation unless it involved an on-the-job injury and that he would have to apply like everyone else. Dean then applied for three Metro jobs, including equipment service operator. Metro sent him a form rejection letter stating that he was unqualified for the position. Dean met with the equal employment officer one further time in October 1980. When nothing came of that meeting, this litigation resulted. Metro does not contest that Dean is handicapped, but does contest his claim that it failed in its duty to accommodate him as required under RCW 49.60 and WAC 162-22. Metro assigns error to the trial court's refusal to dismiss the case and to its refusal to give the proposed jury instructions which would have informed the jury that (a) an employer need not create jobs for handicapped workers; (b) an employer need not give priority to handicapped workers over more qualified workers; and (c) a plaintiff must prove that the defendant intentionally engaged in outrageous and extreme conduct resulting in severe emotional distress in order to recover damages for emotional distress. The issues include whether the trial court erred when it refused to dismiss Dean's case for failure to make a prima facie case of handicapped discrimination and whether the trial court erred by refusing to give Metro's proffered instructions. [1] An employer has an obligation to reasonably accommodate a handicapped employee. Holland v. Boeing Co., 90 Wn.2d 384, 583 P.2d 621 (1978); RCW 49.60.180(1); WAC 162-22-080. Failure to reasonably accommodate a handicapped employee constitutes discrimination under RCW 49.60.180. (Some italics omitted.) Holland v. Boeing Co., 90 Wn.2d at 387-89. In the Holland case, an employer chose to transfer a handicapped employee from a job he could perform well to another position which he was unable to acceptably perform due to his handicap. The opinion found that Boeing had failed to exercise several options it had available to accommodate Holland. Holland, 90 Wn.2d at 391. The court found further support for its requirement of definitive relief in WAC 162-22-080. The Washington Human Rights Commission has promulgated WAC 162-22-080(3) which offers guidance to *633 employers in fulfilling their obligations to handicapped employees. It reads: Metro does not challenge this regulation. The approach of the Oregon legislature to this problem gives some perspective to the duty imposed on the employer. In Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Bureau of Labor, 280 Or. 163, 570 P.2d 76 (1977), we find: Montgomery Ward, 280 Or. at 168-69, quoting from Or. Rev. Stat. § 659.40. See also Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Bureau of Labor, 42 Or. App. 159, 600 P.2d 452 (1979). Metro argues that the trial court's failure to give its proposed jury instructions misled the jury as to Metro's duty to reasonably accommodate Dean. Metro proposed the following jury instructions: *634 Metro contends that the court's failure to give these instructions permitted the jury to conclude that Metro had an obligation to create a job for Dean or that Metro's duty to reasonably accommodate required the hiring of a less qualified handicapped employee over a more qualified handicapped employee. We agree that Metro had no duty to create a job for Dean or to hire him in preference to a more qualified employee. We do not agree that the failure to give the proposed instructions constituted error. [2] Jury instructions must be considered in their entirety. They are sufficient if they permit each party to argue his theory of the case, are not misleading, and when read as a whole, properly inform the jury of the applicable law. Brown v. Spokane Cy. Fire Protec. Dist. 1, 100 Wn.2d 188, 194, 668 P.2d 571 (1983). The instructions to the jury explained the provisions of the laws against discriminating against the handicapped and their applicability to Metro. An instruction stated: Based on that instruction, Metro was able to argue that it was not required to hire a less qualified handicapped employee over a more qualified employee. Another instruction summarized Dean's claim against Metro and Metro's answer to the charge of discrimination as follows: A further instruction set forth Metro's duty to reasonably accommodate a handicapped worker and the factors to be considered when evaluating whether an accommodation would create an undue hardship on an employer, stating: Metro did not take exception to these instructions. They permitted Metro to argue that it had no obligation to create a new job for Dean. Dean never claimed that Metro had a duty to create a new job for him. It was his position that Metro failed to accommodate him by refusing to notify him of or consider him for jobs for which he was qualified. Evidence was introduced at the trial of job openings for which Dean met the qualifications. The jury could have decided on the basis of that evidence that Metro failed to accommodate Dean without believing either that Metro should have created a new job for him or hired him over a more qualified employee. There was substantial testimony to support the positions of both the employer and the employee and, consequently, the verdict of the jury. Metro asserts that the trial court should have dismissed the action, claiming that Dean failed to make a prima facie case that he had been discriminated against. Glasgow v. Georgia Pac. Corp., 103 Wn.2d 401, 693 P.2d 708 (1985) stated that federal law may be considered instructive with regard to the interpretation of our state discrimination laws. Metro asks that we apply the 4-part test announced in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 36 L. Ed. 2d 668, 93 S. Ct. 1817 (1973) to hold that Dean had not presented a prima facie case. McDonnell Douglas involved rejection of employment of a black worker who had protested his discharge as racially motivated. He challenged the company's failure to rehire him under Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1974. The opinion held that for the claimant to make a prima facie showing of race discrimination in a failure to hire case he *637 had to show (a) qualification for the job the employer was seeking to fill; (b) rejection despite qualifications; (c) that the position remained open; and (d) that the employer continued to seek applicants with plaintiff's qualifications. McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, supra at 802. McDonnell Douglas allocates the burden of proof as follows: (1) the worker must make a prima facie case by a preponderance of the evidence; (2) the burden is then upon the employer to produce a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for the challenged act; and (c) the burden then is upon the worker to show that the employer's claimed reasons are pretext. McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, supra at 802-04. Texas Dep't of Comm'ty Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 67 L. Ed. 2d 207, 101 S. Ct. 1089 (1981), continuing to apply the test, recognized that factors may vary depending on the individual case. The opinion states in part: Burdine, at 257, 260. [3] The situation before us involves not a failure to hire, however, but a failure to reasonably accommodate a handicap which developed while in the employ of the employer. It was the duty of Metro to reasonably accommodate Dean by informing him of job openings for which he might be qualified. It was correspondingly the duty of Dean to cooperate with the employer in the hunt for other suitable work by making the employer aware of his qualifications, by *638 applying for all jobs which might fit his abilities and by accepting reasonably compensatory work he could perform. As observed in Stieler v. Spokane Sch. Dist. 81, 88 Wn.2d 68, 558 P.2d 198 (1977), at page 74: See also Wright v. Stone Container Corp., 524 F.2d 1058 (8th Cir.1975); Laws v. Commonwealth, 50 Pa. Commw. 424, 412 A.2d 1381 (1980); Comment, Relative Qualifications and the Prima Facie Case in Title VII Litigation, 82 Colum. L. Rev. 553 (1982). When the Legislature passed RCW 49.60 it included the following: In keeping with this provision, and to promote the statute's recognition that the right to be free from discrimination because of physical handicap is a civil right which includes the right to hold employment without discrimination, we hold that Dean needed only to prove, as one alternative, that he was qualified for available positions for which he applied. See Brown v. General Motors Corp., 601 F.2d 956 (8th Cir.1979). Metro could in its turn prove he was less qualified than those hired to fill those existing vacancies. Maine Human Rights Comm'n v. Canadian Pac. Ltd., 458 A.2d 1225 (Me. 1983). Dean was able to produce proof of application for five positions. The trial court admitted evidence regarding other jobs for which Dean was qualified and had applied, but could not prove that he had done so. Discrimination against the handicapped differs from discrimination on the basis of race, age, creed or sex in that *639 the statute requires that the employer affirmatively assist the employee who becomes handicapped on the job. Holland v. Boeing Co., 90 Wn.2d at 389. "It is an unfair practice for an employer to fail or refuse to make reasonable accommodations to the sensory, mental, or physical limitations of employees, unless the employer can demonstrate ... an undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business." WAC 162-22-080(1). Metro failed to make reasonable accommodations to Dean's handicap when he informed it of his illness in that Metro treated him as any other job applicant, did not determine the extent of his disability, did not call him into the office to assist him in applying for other positions but left the initiative to him. He received no special attention from the personnel office when he tried to find another position within Metro. In addition, Metro acknowledged having job openings that Dean could not have discovered on his own. Metro personnel made themselves available to Dean but took no affirmative steps to help him find another position. This was required of them as "reasonable accommodation". In order to make a prima facie case of handicap discrimination, Dean was required to prove that he had the qualifications for positions which Metro was seeking to fill and that Metro did not take appropriate affirmative steps to help him find an alternative position within the company. The evidence supports the jury's verdict that Dean carried his burden of persuasion and that Metro did not convince them that it had discharged its responsibility. We hold that to make a prima facie case of handicap discrimination an employee plaintiff must prove that he or she is handicapped, that he or she had the qualification required to fill vacant positions and that the employer failed to take affirmative measures to make known such job opportunities to the employee and to determine whether the employee was in fact qualified for those positions. Metro proposed the following instruction which sets out a tort standard for recovery of damages for emotional distress. The measure of damages for emotional distress has been based primarily on the intentional infliction of emotional distress giving rise to the tort of outrage. Browning v. Slenderella Sys., 54 Wn.2d 440, 341 P.2d 859 (1959); Contreras v. Crown Zellerbach Corp., 88 Wn.2d 735, 565 P.2d 1173 (1977). Neither of those cases arose under RCW 49.60. [4] RCW 49.60.030(2) provides for recovery of "actual damages sustained by him ..." In Glasgow v. Georgia Pac. Corp., 103 Wn.2d at 407, damages for emotional distress under RCW 49.60 were upheld, the court stating: See also Holland v. Boeing Co., 90 Wn.2d at 393. Ellingson v. Spokane Mortgage Co., 19 Wn. App. 48, 573 P.2d 389 (1978) had held that a person could recover damages for mental anguish under RCW 49.60. The decision noted that such recovery is distinguishable from common law recovery for emotional distress based on intentional discrimination or intentional tort because it is created by statute. Spokane Mortgage, at 57. The opinion recognized that the term "actual damages" included humiliation, mental anguish and suffering. Kelly v. American Standard, Inc., 640 F.2d 974 (9th Cir.1981) affirmed emotional distress damages under RCW 49.60 in an action for age discrimination. There too the trial court refused an instruction requiring outrageous and extreme conduct. Kelly, 640 F.2d *641 at 984 n. 16. Under RCW 49.60, proof of discrimination results in a finding of liability. The plaintiff, once having proved discrimination, is only required to offer proof of actual anguish or emotional distress in order to have those damages included in recoverable costs pursuant to RCW 49.60. The damages result from the injury, the discrimination. Andersen v. Exxon Co., U.S.A., 89 N.J. 483, 446 A.2d 486 (1982); State Div. of Human Rights v. Great Atl. & Pac. Tea Co., 46 A.D.2d 1001, 362 N.Y.S.2d 105 (1974); 121-129 Broadway Realty, Inc. v. State Div. of Human Rights, 49 A.D.2d 422, 376 N.Y.S.2d 17 (1975). Dean testified that while pursuing another position within Metro he exhausted his financial resources. He was forced to sell furniture, clothing and jewelry to live. He moved to California and stayed with his mother. He borrowed money from his family and was forced to go on medical assistance. There was sufficient evidence introduced to warrant an instruction on emotional distress damages. The jury, after weighing the evidence, could have found that Dean suffered mental anguish as a result of the discrimination. However, since neither party requested a special verdict, it is impossible to determine the precise amount or indeed whether the jury awarded anything for mental anguish. Plaintiff, once having proved discrimination pursuant to RCW 49.60, need not prove outrageous and extreme conduct or severe emotional distress. The court instructed the jury, in part, as follows: We hold that an instruction to the jury to consider emotional distress or mental anguish when determining actual damages sustained by the plaintiff is proper in a suit brought under RCW 49.60. The trial court is affirmed. The cause is remanded for a determination of reasonable attorney fees. DOLLIVER, C.J., and DORE, PEARSON, GOODLOE, and DURHAM, JJ., concur. BRACHTENBACH, J. (concurring) I concur in the result solely upon the basis that Metro did not except to the instruction that accommodation of a handicapped worker is an undue hardship if it is unreasonable in view of the size of the employer's business. WAC 162-22-080(3) provides: That standard may well be a valid and desirable criteria for determining the necessity of an employer's accommodation. However, it is not authorized by the statute, RCW 49.60.120(3) and .180(3). The regulation is beyond the authority granted the Commission. Its authority, RCW 49.60.110, is to adopt regulations to carry out the provisions of RCW 49.60. Nowhere is there a hint that the size of the employer's business is a relevant factor in determining whether there has been discrimination against a handicapped person. Such a criterion should be set by the Legislature, not the Commission. UTTER and ANDERSEN, JJ., concur with BRACHTENBACH, J.