Court Opinion

ID: 9530204
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:58:10.363341+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:01.821305
License: Public Domain

CONNOR, Justice,
with whom MATTHEWS, Justice, joins, dissenting.
Respectfully, I dissent on the question of whether Mayer effectively applied for the job in question. I do not believe that there was substantial evidence to support the Commission’s finding under the legal criteria which should be applied.
*493I agree with those cases which hold that an applicant need not perform an act which would be futile. But something more definite should occur than in the case at bar before the Commission’s complaint procedures are brought to bear against an employer. As the event which triggers the Commission’s procedures, the application should be as concrete and definite as possible. Conversely, before an employer is subjected to the substantial burden of defending against a discrimination charge, the application should be definite enough that the employer has notice of the applicant’s demands. Otherwise, an indefinite, tentative, or vacuous inquiry can be a trap for the unwary.
A written application would furnish the clearest evidence in this regard. See, Cedeck v. Hamilton Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n, 414 F.Supp. 495 (E.D.Mo.1976); Hockett v. Administrator of Veterans Affairs, 385 F.Supp. 1106, 1110-12 (N.D.Ohio 1974). I agree that an oral application can suffice in a number of circumstances, but where the facts of the transaction are susceptible to varying interpretations, doubtful points should be resolved against the applicant.
I would thus affirm the judgment of the superior court.