Court Opinion

ID: 9551909
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:01:58.010502+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:25:03.909423
License: Public Domain

Prager, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. In my judgment, the majority opinion has placed serious restrictions on the Kansas Commission on Civil Rights (KCCR) which will hamper the performance of its statutory duty to conduct investigations for the purpose of determining violations of the Kansas Acts Against Discrimination (K.S.A. 44-1001 et seq.). It is the public policy of the State of Kansas to eliminate and prevent discrimination in all employment relations. To carry out that public policy, K.S.A. 1979 Supp. 44-1004(5) empowers the KCCR to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, require the production for examination of records, documents and other evidence or possible sources of evidence, and it may issue subpoenas to compel access to or the production of such material. Under K.S.A. 1979 Supp. 44-1005, the KCCR is granted broad powers of investigation where a verified complaint is filed, and it is given the same broad powers of investigation even though a formal complaint is not filed. In Atchison, T. & S.F. Rly. Co. v. Lopez, 216 Kan. 108, 531 P.2d 455 (1975), this court held that the law refuses to apply the stringent relevancy requirements of subpoenas in aid of civil or criminal litigation to administrative agency subpoenas. To uphold a subpoena on the ground of relevancy, the law requires only (1) that the inquiry be one which the administrative agency demanding production is authorized to make, (2) that the demand be not too indefinite, and (3) that the information sought be reasonably relevant.
I agree with the basic principles of law discussed in the majority opinion but not to their application to the facts in the case. The district courts of this state have the authority to restrict or modify subpoenas issued by the KCCR, where there is a substantial showing that the subpoena is unreasonable or oppressive. Under the guidelines established in Kansas Commission on Civil Rights v. Carlton, 216 Kan. 735, 533 P.2d 1335 (1975), and Lopez, it appears to me that the information sought by *35subpoena in this case is relevant and within the scope of an investigation which the KCCR is authorized to make. There is nothing in the record to show that making available for inspection the personnel records described in the subpoena would be oppressive or work an unreasonable hardship on Cessna. All of the records are in the personnel office of the Pawnee Division of Cessna and Cessna did not introduce any evidence showing that compliance with the subpoena would work any unreasonable hardship on the company. The verified complaint of Nancy Cotter, which was the basis for the investigation, alleges that there is a pattern of discrimination by Cessna against women in areas of pay, promotion, benefits, and in job classification and assignment. How can it reasonably be contended that thet personnel records in the Pawnee Division are not relevant to the issue of discrimination in the areas mentioned in the complaint? It appears to me that the majority have departed from the rule of liberal construction to be applied in interpreting the act and are now taking a position of strict interpretation which will seriously impair the enforcement of the act by the KCCR. I, therefore, respectfully dissent.
Herd, J., joins in the foregoing dissenting opinion.