Court Opinion

ID: 9578392
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:44:47.687408+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:58.275373
License: Public Domain

RICHARDSON, J.
I respectfully dissent. In my view, the Legislature did not intend to permit the recovery of punitive damages in job discrimination actions brought under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
A civil action may be brought after the Fair Employment and Housing Commission (commission) either fails, or expressly declines, to issue an accusation for 150 days after the filing of a complaint. (Gov. Code, § 12965, subd. (b); further statutory references are to this code.) If the commission fails to act, then “the person claiming to be aggrieved may bring a civil action under this part [i.e., under FEHA] against the person, employer, labor organization or employment agency named in the verified complaint .. .. ” {Ibid., italics added.) The statutory requirement that any such civil action must be brought “under” FEHA, persuades me that the remedies available in such an action are those, and only those, which are specified in FEHA. Moreover, it would be wholly anomalous to allow punitive damages to accusers who have been unsuccessful administratively before the commission, but to deny such damages to those whose claims have been successfully established. The result of any such disparity of remedy would be to encourage claimants to file insufficient or inadequate complaints with the commission in order to avoid or circumvent administrative proceedings in the hope of obtaining punitive damages in subsequent civil actions. Such a conse*223quence would be contrary to FEHA’s policy of eliminating employment discrimination through administrative “conference, conciliation, and persuasion.” (Gov. Code, § 12963.7, subd. (a).)
The majority does not reach the question whether the commission itself is empowered to award punitive damages in employment discrimination cases but, as I have explained, a resolution of that issue is critical to a correct determination of the present case. In my view, both the statutory language and relevant legislative history, which I briefly explore, conclusively establish that the commission has no such authority.
FEHA recites that “It is the purpose of this part to provide effective remedies which will eliminate ... discriminatory practices.” (Gov. Code, § 12920.) The remedies so provided do not include any award of punitive damages. Under FEHA, if the commission finds an unlawful employment practice, it may order the employer (or other person guilty of unlawful practices) to (1) cease and desist and (2) take such other action as “hiring, reinstatement or upgrading of employees, with or without back pay, restoration to membership in any . .. labor organization,” as the commission deems appropriate. (Gov. Code, § 12970, subd. (a), italics added.) “Back pay” represents the sole measure of any monetary damages that may be awarded in employment discrimination cases, and even that award rests in the commission’s sound discretion. This statutory language affecting employment cases may be contrasted with that used in housing discrimination situations in which the Legislature has expressly authorized the commission to exact “The payment of actual and punitive damages to the aggrieved person in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000).” (Gov. Code, § 12987, subd. (2), italics added.) To me, the conclusion seems inescapable that a punitive award is available under FEHA only in cases of housing discrimination. This determination is reinforced by the applicable legislative history.
The foregoing limited remedy language of subdivision (a) of section 12970 recodifies and substantially reenacts that of former Labor Code section 1426, which was adopted in 1959 as part of the Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA). Also, the phrasing bears a close resemblance to section 10(c) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) (29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., § 160(c)), which directs the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), when it finds an unfair labor practice, to issue a cease and desist order which shall require the violator “to take such affirmative action including reinstatement of employ*224ees with or without back pay, as will effectuate the policies of this sub-chapter:.... ” It is significant that both before and after 1959, the NLRA had been interpreted as not allowing punitive damages. (See Edison Co. v. Labor Board (1938) 305 U.S. 197, 235-236 [83 L.Ed. 126, 143, 59 S.Ct. 266] [“The power to command affirmative action is remedial not punitive. . .”]; Van Hoomissen v. Xerox Corporation (N.D.Cal. 1973) 368 F.Supp. 829, 837.) The similarity of the federal and state statutory language strongly suggests that FEHA should receive a parallel construction.
Referring to the NLRB, Edison held that “the power to command affirmative action is remedial not punitive”; it is intended to allow restraint of violators and “as a means of removing or avoiding the consequences of a violation” where that serves the law’s aims. The statute “does not go so far,” said the Supreme Court, as to allow a punitive order “even though the Board be of the opinion that the policies of the Act might be effectuated by such an order.” (305 U.S. at pp. 235-236 [83 L.Ed.2d at p. 143].)
Real parties purport to find a material distinction between the state and federal laws in the deletion from FEPA in 1969 of the term “affirmative” preceding the word “action.” As in the NLRA, the original FEPA used the phrase “affirmative action.” (Stats. 1969, ch. 526, § 1, p. 1142.) Real parties interpret this deletion as reflecting a legislative intent to enlarge the commission’s powers by removing any remedial limitation implied by the word “affirmative.”
However, the available legislative history does not support that contention. Assembly Bill No. 407 (Greene), 1969 Regular Session, originally proposed to substitute the word “positive” for “affirmative”; subsequent versions omitted both terms. The Enrolled Bill Report of the Department of Industrial Relations and the Enrolled Bill Memo of the Governor’s Legislative Secretary both state that the aim of the proposed change was to avoid confusion with a 1967 amendment authorizing the FEPC to engage in “affirmative actions with employers, employment agencies, and labor organizations ....” (See former Lab. Code, § 1431; now Gov. Code, § 12990.) “In other words,” according to the report and memo, “Affirmative Action in AB 544 [the 1967 amendment] was a little broader than Affirmative Action in Section 1426 of the Labor Code [the remedies provision].” (Italics in original.) Although these expressions are not controlling upon us, they do shed some light on the legislative purpose and real parties suggest no contrary indication.
*225I also find it significant that very similar language in title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, enacted five years after FEPA, has been interpreted as barring punitive damage awards. Under section 706(g) of title VII, the trial court is authorized to enjoin intentional violations of the act and to “order such affirmative action as may be appropriate, which may include, but is not limited to, reinstatement or hiring of employees, with or without back pay ..., or any other equitable relief as the court deems appropriate .... ” (42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-5 (g).)
Decisions under title VII have stressed that its remedy language was “expressly modeled” on section 10(c) of the NLRA. (Richerson v. Jones (3d Cir. 1977) 551 F.2d 918, 927; cf. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody (1975) 422 U.S. 405, 419, and fn. 11 [45 L.Ed.2d 280, 297, 95 S.Ct. 2362].) Some courts have invoked the doctrine of ejusdem generis in concluding that the type of “affirmative action” which is illustrated by a make-whole award of back pay does not include punitive assessments. (Richerson, supra, at p. 927; Equal Employment Op. Com’n v. Detroit Edison Co. (6th Cir. 1975) 515 F.2d 301, 309-310.) Several other decisions have focused on the phrase “equitable relief” in section 706(g), noting that punitive damages traditionally are not available in equity. (Shah v. Mt. Zion Hospital & Medical Ctr. (9th Cir. 1981) 642 F.2d 268, 272; Miller v. Texas State Bd. of Barber Examiners (5th Cir. 1980) 615 F.2d 650, 654; Richerson, supra, at pp. 926-927; Detroit Edison Co., supra, at pp. 309-310.)
As previously noted, I find it persuasive that the housing discrimination provisions of FEHA include “the payment of punitive damages not to exceed one thousand dollars” (adjusted, since 1981, for cost of living) as one of the nonexhaustive list of “actions” which the commission may, “in [its] judgment,” order a violator to take to “effectuate the purpose of this part.” (Gov. Code, § 12987, and subd. (2).) The express provision for punitive damages in this parallel statutory scheme strongly suggests to me that the omission of this particular remedy from the employment discrimination provisions was intentional. The Legislature has clearly demonstrated that it knows how to add a punitive remedy to this statute when it wishes to do so.
California’s original housing discrimination law, the Hawkins Act, was adopted in 1959, the same year as FEPA. (Stats. 1959, ch. 1681, § 1, p. 4074 et seq.) The Hawkins Act covered only “publicly assisted housing” and allowed aggrieved persons to sue for “restraint of [viola*226tions] and for other equitable remedies, including any affirmative relief as may be necessary to undo the effects of [a] violation.” Separately, the statute provided for the award of “damages [of] not less than” $500. (Id., at p. 4076 [former Health & Saf. Code, § 35730].)
In 1963 the Hawkins Act was supplanted by the Rumford Act (Stats. 1963, ch. 1853, § 2, p. 3823 et seq.). The 1963 act expanded the categories of housing in which discrimination was prohibited. It empowered the FEPC to order a violator to (a) cease and desist and (b) take any “one of the following affirmative actions” as, in its judgment, would serve the law’s purpose: “(1) [t]he sale or rental of the housing accommodation ... [,] (2) [t]he sale or rental of a like accommodation, if one is available, or the next vacancy in a like accommodation[, or] (3) [t]he payment of damages [not exceeding $500] if the commission determines that neither of the remedies under (1) or (2) is available.” (Id., at p. 3828 [former Health & Saf. Code, § 35738], italics added.) A 1975 amendment increased the maximum damage award to $1,000. (Stats. 1975, ch. 280, § 1, p. 701.)
The final chapter was added in 1977 when the act again was amended to broaden the scope of illegal discriminatory acts. The commission was authorized to order “such actions” by a violator as it deemed appropriate to serve the law, including, but not limited to, the sale or rental of the same or similar housing, the provision of nondiscriminatory purchase, rental, and financing terms, and “[t]he payment of actual and punitive damages” not exceeding $1,000. (Italics added, Stats. 1977, ch. 1187, § 10, p. 3893; ch. 1188, § 13.1, pp. 3905-3906.) With irrelevant changes the Legislature carried this scheme forward when it combined the employment and housing laws in FEHA.
The foregoing history strongly suggests that the original provision of “damages” in the housing law, but riot the employment statute, was purposeful. The Legislature may well have concluded that damages were a necessary alternative to other relief in housing cases, because the passage of time often would make it impossible or impracticable to force a violator to offer the same or similar accommodations. However, direct remedies for employment discrimination, such as reinstatement and back pay, are less likely to become unavailable after the fact, making an alternative damage remedy less essential.
Later versions of the housing law abandoned the “last-resort” theory of damages and provided that damages could be both cumulative to *227other remedies and punitive as well. Still no similar remedy was added to the employment statute. This situation remained the same when, in 1980, the housing and employment schemes were restructured in a single enactment.
The remedy language of the employment and housing sections seems consciously parallel in other important respects. Both provide for cease and desist orders and declare that violators may be directed to “take such action[s],” as, in the commission’s judgment, will effectuate the statutory purpose, “including, but not limited to,” those specified. (Cf. Gov. Code, § 12970, subd. (a), with § 12987.) This side-by-side development of the two schemes, I believe, fully supports the conclusion that punitive damages were excluded intentionally from Government Code section 12970, subdivision (a).
A number of our sister state courts have concluded that statutes similar to FEHA do not authorize the nonjudicial award of compensatory or punitive damages. (E.g., Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Lysyj (1974) 38 Ohio St 2d 217 [313 N.E.2d 3, 6-7, 70 A.L.R.3d 1135]; Gutwein v. Easton Publishing Company (1974) 272 Md. 563 [325 A.2d 740, 743-747], cert. den. (1975) 420 U.S. 991 [43 L.Ed.2d 673, 95 S.Ct. 1427]; Mendota Apts. v. District of Columbia Com’n on H.R. (D.C.App. 1974) 315 A.2d 832, 834-836; Zamantakis v. Commonwealth, Human Rel. Com’n (1973) 10 Pa. Commw. 107 [308 A.2d 612, 616].) Most of these cases stress the parallel with the federal statutes.
I fully recognize that the commission’s own regulations (see Gov. Code, § 12935, subd. (a)) interpret section 12970, subdivision (a), as permitting it to award exemplary damages. Title 2, section 7286.9 of the California Administrative Code authorizes broad forms of retroactive, injunctive, and prospective relief. The regulation further provides that “[w]hile normal monetary relief shall include relief in the nature of back pay, reasonable exemplary or compensatory damages may be awarded in situations involving violations which are particularly deliberate, egregious, or inexcusable.” (Subd. (c).) However, the commission cannot by its own regulations create a remedy which the Legislature has withheld. The exercise of administrative power by regulation can rise no higher than its legislative source. While construction of a statute by the enforcing agency deserves weight it cannot, of course, prevail over persuasive indications of contrary legislative intent. (Pacific Legal Foundation v. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd. (1981) 29 Cal.3d 101, 117 [172 Cal.Rptr. 194, 624 P.2d 244].)
*228I conclude that section 12970, subdivision (a), does not allow the commission to award exemplary damages. Accordingly, the trial court lacked authority to award such damages in a suit brought “under” FEHA. I would grant the peremptory writ and reverse the order denying petitioner’s motion to strike the punitive damages claim from the amended complaint.
Kaus, J., concurred.