Court Opinion

ID: 9686972
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:12:37.386723+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:23.366906
License: Public Domain

MORGAN, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent.
In my opinion, the result reached by the majority is not supported by the record. I would hold that, upon the record made before the hearing officer, he should have granted respondent’s motion to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction because of appellant’s failure to timely file.*
The majority accepts appellant’s contention that the letter she sent to the Board on April 15 requesting that her name be placed on the recall list constitutes the filing of her grievance and, thus, the grievance was timely filed. The record clearly shows that this contention was not raised at the administrative level, but was urged by appellant *615for the first time in her reply brief on appeal to the circuit court. Appellant’s brief to the Department of Labor, prior to the hearing, explicitly states that the grievance was filed on May 27, 1976. At the administrative hearing, appellant relied exclusively on May 27 as the filing date, and she and her representative repeatedly referred to the May 27 document, filed on her behalf by the LDEA, as the grievance. The letter of April 15, mentioned only twice during the entire proceeding, was represented merely as an event that precipitated the filing of the grievance and never as the grievance itself. At no time in the administrative proceedings did appellant allude to a claim that the April 15 letter constituted a grievance or that she intended it to be a grievance. That the Department of Labor had no opportunity to consider the issue is apparent in its findings of fact and conclusions of law which identify the filing date as the date when the LDEA sent the grievance to the Board. In my opinion, the effect and timeliness of the April 15 letter should not be considered by this court because failure to raise an issue at the administrative level precludes that issue from being considered for the first time on appeal. United States of America v. L. A. Tucker Truck Lines, Inc., 344 U.S. 33, 73 S.Ct. 67, 97 L.Ed. 54 (1952); Farmers Co-op Elevator Co. v. Commodity Credit Corp., 144 F.Supp. 65 (N.D.S.D.1956); Petition of Village Board of Wheatland, 77 N.D. 194, 42 N.W.2d 321 (1950).
The majority also apparently accepts appellant’s argument that her grievance was timely filed because she met with the school’s principal on May 11 and 12, 1976, in an attempt to resolve the matter informally in accordance with Article V of the district’s grievance procedure. This argument has no support in the record. Article V, entitled “Informal Procedures,” provides that a teacher who feels he has a grievance should first discuss the matter with that member of the administration to whom the teacher is directly responsible in an effort to informally resolve the matter before submitting a formal written grievance. Although appellant’s alleged meetings with the principal were mentioned during the administrative hearing, a close reading of the transcript discloses that no testimony was elicited concerning the dates the meetings took place. The only reference to specific dates is in appellant’s brief to this court. Since no sworn testimony exists to support those dates, appellant’s argument lacks foundation in fact, and I would place no reliance on it.
However, even if the dates of these meetings were substantiated by competent testimony, I am unconvinced that compliance with the provisions of Article V is sufficient to constitute the filing of a grievance in accordance with the grievance procedure. Timeliness in filing a grievance is stressed in the grievance procedure as essential for the procedure to function smoothly. Although Article V encourages teachers to attempt to resolve their grievance informally by discussing complaints with their superiors, the grievance procedure is- effectively destroyed by the majority’s decision that such a discussion may constitute a timely filing. A teacher may now completely circumvent the procedure’s requirements that a formal grievance be written and submitted at the appropriate level, within a specified time by making a mere statement of displeasure to an administrator and later claiming the statement was intended to be the filing of a grievance. The grievance procedure was intended to avoid just such a result. It contemplates that teachers make their grievances known in an orderly and expeditious manner by setting forth the nature of the grievance in writing within a specified time. In my opinion then, even if appellant could prove that she complied with Article V, such compliance is insufficient to constitute a filing in accordance with the grievance procedure.
For these reasons, I would affirm the circuit court’s judgment that the Department of Labor lacked jurisdiction.

 In an appeal such as this, made pursuant to SDCL 1-26, the only record before this court for review is the record made at the administrative level.