ROBINSON, J.
The plaintiff, Kim Hinde, appeals from the trial court's judgment dismissing her action for failure to exhaust her administrative remedies against the defendant, Specialized Education of Connecticut, Inc., before filing her employment discrimination action directly with the Superior Court. The plaintiff claims that the court erred by (1) misinterpreting a prior order dismissing her original complaint, (2) failing to make findings as to her arguments of estoppel and alter ego, and (3) concluding that she failed to exhaust her administrative remedies with respect to both her cause of action pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (Title VII), and the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, General Statutes § 46a-51 et seq. (CFEPA). We affirm the trial court's judgment of dismissal.
The record reveals the following facts and procedural history necessary to our resolution of the plaintiff's appeal. The plaintiff, a teaching assistant at High Road School in Wallingford, filed a complaint and charge of discrimination with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (commission) against Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI), in March, 2011, alleging that, because of her gender, she had been sexually harassed and subjected to a hostile work environment. After a mandatory mediation conference between the plaintiff and SESI, the plaintiff received a release of jurisdiction in December, 2011, to file an action against SESI in the Superior Court.
On April 12, 2012, the plaintiff filed a motion to correct the caption, requesting that the caption list "Specialized Education of Connecticut, Inc.," as the defendant. The defendant filed an objection to the motion to correct the caption, stating that it was not proper to substitute an entity that had not been served properly. The court, Silbert, J., denied the plaintiff's motion.
SESI then filed a motion to dismiss, claiming lack of personal jurisdiction. It argued that there was no personal jurisdiction for the court to hear the case because the plaintiff was not an employee of SESI, but rather an employee of the defendant, which was a distinct and separate entity, and was not named as a defendant in the February, 2012 complaint. SESI supported its motion with an affidavit from Nancy Kelly, Director of Human Resources for SESI, who averred that the defendant and SESI were separate, independent entities, and that, at all times pertinent to the complaint, the plaintiff was not an employee of SESI.
The plaintiff filed an objection to the motion to dismiss, arguing that SESI was the parent corporation of the defendant, and that SESI had represented itself to the plaintiff as her employer. Accordingly, the plaintiff argued that SESI had waived the issue of personal jurisdiction, or, alternatively, that SESI should be estopped from claiming that it was not the plaintiff's employer.
After a hearing held on May 21, 2012, the court, Frechette, J., rejected SESI's claim of lack of personal jurisdiction, reasoning that SESI should have brought its motion to dismiss under a claim of lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, the court ordered supplemental briefing on this issue. The court also ordered supplemental briefing on how the plaintiff's arguments of waiver and estoppel would apply to a motion to dismiss grounded in lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
On October 11, 2012, the plaintiff filed the present action against the defendant in the Meriden Superior Court.
We begin by setting forth our standard of review. "In an appeal from the granting of a motion to dismiss on the ground of subject matter jurisdiction, this court's review is plenary. A determination regarding a trial court's subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law. When... the trial court draws conclusions of law, our review is plenary and we must decide whether its conclusions are legally and logically correct and find support in the facts that appear in the record." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Chayoon v. Sherlock, 89 Conn.App. 821, 825-26, 877 A.2d 4, cert. denied, 276 Conn. 913, 888 A.2d 83 (2005), cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1138, 126 S.Ct. 2042, 164 L.Ed.2d 797 (2006).
The plaintiff claims that the court erred in its interpretation of Judge Frechette's order granting SESI's motion to dismiss the February, 2012 complaint. The plaintiff argues that Judge Frechette dismissed the claims against Specialized Student Education Services, Inc., not SESI, and that Judge Frechette did so because no such corporation existed, and because the plaintiff's counsel acknowledged that listing Specialized Student Education Services, Inc., as the defendant was a misnomer. Additionally, the plaintiff contends that the court erred in concluding that Judge Frechette had found the defendant and SESI to be separate entities. We do not agree.
"Because [t]he construction of a judgment is a question of law for the court... our review of the ... claim is plenary. As a general rule, judgments are to be construed in the same fashion as other written instruments.... The determinative factor is the intention of the court as gathered from all parts of the judgment.... The interpretation of a judgment may involve the circumstances surrounding the making of the judgment.... Effect must be given to that which is clearly implied as well as to that which is expressed.... The judgment should admit of a consistent construction as a whole." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Chapman Lumber, Inc. v. Tager, 288 Conn. 69, 91-92, 952 A.2d 1 (2008).
Judge Frechette specifically found that "Specialized Student Education Services, Inc., has submitted uncontroverted evidence via affidavit that it was not the employer of the plaintiff. (See affidavit of Nancy Kelly, attached to [the] motion to dismiss.) The plaintiff did not dispute at oral argument that she sued the incorrect entity, and that [it] was not her employer." The plaintiff argues that this is a finding that Specialized Student Education Services, Inc. — an entity that the plaintiff concedes does not exist — is not the plaintiff's employer, and therefore, that it is an order dismissing the plaintiff's February, 2012 complaint against Specialized Student Education Services, Inc. Additionally, the plaintiff argues that there is no finding by Judge Frechette in his order that SESI and the defendant are separate and independent entities. The defendant argues that this is a finding that SESI — the party that the plaintiff actually served, that appeared in court and that submitted affidavits — is not the plaintiff's employer, and therefore, that it is an order dismissing the plaintiff's complaint against SESI. The defendant also argues that it is implicit in Judge Frechette's finding that he rejected the plaintiff's claim that SESI was the alter ego of the defendant, and therefore, that it is a finding that SESI and the defendant are separate and independent entities. Although Judge Frechette's order did not explicitly dismiss the complaint against SESI or find that the defendant and SESI are two separate entities, the record supports this conclusion.
We first address the plaintiff's argument that Judge Frechette's order finds that Specialized Student Education Services, Inc., was not the plaintiff's employer. At the September 24, 2012, hearing, Judge Frechette acknowledged that Specialized Student Education Services, Inc., was a misnomer on the summons for SESI.
As for the plaintiff's argument that the order does not find that the defendant and SESI are separate entities, the record does not support this interpretation. The plaintiff originally argued the theory of alter ego in her objection to SESI's motion to dismiss, in which she contended that SESI was the parent corporation of the defendant, and, therefore, that SESI should be held liable as the plaintiff's employer. Judge Frechette asked for supplemental briefing on this issue, and heard oral argument from both parties as to whether the defendant and SESI were an integrated enterprise or two separate and distinct entities. SESI submitted affidavits from Kelly and Violante attesting that the entities were separate and distinct, and that the plaintiff was an employee of the defendant only. The plaintiff submitted no affidavits or testimony to refute these affidavits. In light of these circumstances and Judge Frechette's finding that SESI is not the plaintiff's employer, we necessarily must construe Judge Frechette's order as implicitly rejecting the plaintiff's claim that SESI is the alter ego of the defendant. It would be illogical for Judge Frechette to determine that SESI was not the plaintiff's employer had he found that SESI and the defendant were an integrated enterprise. We therefore conclude that the court did not err in its interpretation of Judge Frechette's order.
The plaintiff also claims that the court erred in not making findings as to her arguments of estoppel and alter ego. The plaintiff contends that the defendant should be estopped from claiming that she did not properly fulfill the exhaustion requirement prior to filing her employment discrimination action because the defendant allowed SESI to hold itself out as the plaintiff's employer and Violante, an employee of the defendant, allegedly participated in the proceedings before the commission against SESI. The plaintiff further contends that the exhaustion requirement should be waived with regard to the defendant because SESI is the alter ego of the defendant and the court's refusal to address this issue because it was not pleaded in the plaintiff's complaint was error. We are not persuaded.
"A motion to dismiss properly attacks the jurisdiction of the court, essentially asserting that the plaintiff cannot as a matter of law and fact state a cause of action that should be heard by the court.... A court deciding a motion to dismiss must determine not the merits of the claim or even its legal sufficiency, but rather, whether the claim is one that the
Our review of the plaintiff's complaint reveals that the plaintiff failed to allege any facts sufficient to support an allegation of estoppel or alter ego. Additionally, the plaintiff failed to supplement the record with supporting affidavits as to facts not apparent on the record, or to request an evidentiary hearing in which the plaintiff could have presented testimony on these two claims. See Practice Book § 10-31(b) ("[a]ny adverse party who objects to [a motion to dismiss] shall ... where appropriate, [file and serve] supporting affidavits as to facts not apparent on the record"); see also footnote 5 of this opinion. The only thing presented by the plaintiff to support her arguments of estoppel and alter ego was her counsel's assertions and argument at the hearing on the motion to dismiss. It is well established that representations of counsel are not evidence. See Martin v. Liberty Bank, 46 Conn.App. 559, 562, 699 A.2d 305 (1997). Therefore, on the basis of the allegations on the face of the complaint taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, there exists no foundation on which the plaintiff could support her arguments of estoppel and alter ego. Accordingly, we conclude that the court did not err in failing to make express findings as to these arguments when determining whether to dismiss the plaintiff's action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
We now turn our attention to the plaintiff's claim that the court erred by concluding that the plaintiff had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. The plaintiff argues that her failure to obtain a notice of right to sue letter is not a jurisdictional bar to a civil action, but a precondition to filing that can be, and should have been, waived by the trial court. To support her argument, the plaintiff relies on federal case law that has held that fulfilling procedural requirements, such as timely filing a complaint in the appropriate administrative agency, or receiving a right to sue letter, are preconditions to bringing a Title VII claim in federal court, rather than a jurisdictional requirement, and as such, these conditions can be waived. The plaintiff argues that, under this jurisprudence, the court erred in dismissing her Title VII cause of action for failure to exhaust her administrative remedies. Further, the plaintiff argues that the federal jurisprudence should apply to her claim under CFEPA, and, accordingly, she argues that the court erred in dismissing her state cause of action for failing to exhaust her administrative remedies. We do not agree.
The following facts and procedural history are relevant to the resolution of this
We first address the plaintiff's claim that the court erred in dismissing her Title VII cause of action for failure to exhaust her administrative remedies. The United States Supreme Court has held that "filing a timely charge of discrimination with the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to suit in federal court, but a requirement that, like a statute of limitations, is subject to waiver, estoppel, and equitable tolling." Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 393, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982). The Supreme Court reasoned that the legislature listed the filing requirement in a separate section of Title VII than the section that grants jurisdiction to the federal district courts. Id., at 393-94, 102 S.Ct. 1127. Furthermore, the Supreme Court reasoned that "[b]y holding compliance with the filing period to be not a jurisdictional prerequisite to filing a Title VII suit, but a requirement subject to waiver as well as tolling when equity so requires, we honor the remedial purpose of the legislation as a whole without negating the particular purpose of the filing requirement, to give prompt notice to the employer." Id., at 398, 102 S.Ct. 1127.
Since the Supreme Court's holding in Zipes, some federal circuit courts have held that "all Title VII procedural requirements to suit are henceforth to be viewed as conditions precedent to suit rather than as jurisdictional requirements"; Fouche v. Jekyll Island-State Park Authority, 713 F.2d 1518, 1525 (11th Cir. 1983); while other federal circuit courts have taken a piecemeal approach to extending the holding in Zipes to other procedural requirements. See Rivers v. Board of Education, 143 F.3d 1029, 1031 (6th Cir.1998). When presented with the issue of extending the Zipes holding to the right to sue letter requirement, every federal circuit court has decided that that procedural requirement is a precondition subject to equitable tolling, estoppel and waiver. See, e.g., Pietras v. Board of Fire Commissioners, 180 F.3d 468, 473-74 (2d Cir.1999); Forehand v. Florida State Hospital, 89 F.3d 1562, 1567-69 (11th Cir. 1996); McKinnon v. Kwong Wah Restaurant, 83 F.3d 498, 505 (1st Cir.1996); Puckett v. Tennessee Eastman Co., 889 F.2d 1481, 1487 (6th Cir.1989); Gooding v. Warner-Lambert Co., 744 F.2d 354, 358 (3d Cir.1984).
The plaintiff contends that the court should have waived the preconditions of timely filing a charge of discrimination and obtaining a right to sue letter against the defendant because the defendant should have been estopped from claiming that it did not have notice of the administrative proceedings. The plaintiff argues that because employees of the defendant allegedly appeared at the hearing before the commission against SESI and because SESI is the alter ego of the defendant, the defendant had sufficient notice of the proceedings.
We next consider the plaintiff's claim that the court erred in dismissing her claim under CFEPA after finding that she failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. Although the plaintiff is correct that Connecticut courts turn to federal precedent for guidance in construing our antidiscrimination statutes; Levy v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, 236 Conn. 96, 103, 671 A.2d 349 (1996); we are not bound to automatically adopt federal precedent, and the law regarding exhausting administrative remedies with respect to CFEPA has been well settled in the wake of Zipes. "The provisions of ... CFEPA that prohibit discriminatory employment practices ... must be read in conjunction with the act's provisions for the filing of complaints concerning alleged discriminatory practices with the [commission]." (Citations omitted.) Sullivan v. Board of Police Commissioners, 196 Conn. 208, 215, 491 A.2d 1096 (1985). General Statutes § 46a-83 (b) provides in relevant part: "Within ninety days of the filing of the respondent's answer to the complaint, the [commission's] executive director or the executive director's designee shall conduct a merit assessment review. The merit assessment review shall include the complaint, the respondent's answer and the responses to the commission's requests for information, if any, and the complainant's comments, if any, to the respondent's answer and information responses...." "After finding that there is reasonable cause to believe that a discriminatory practice has been or is being committed as alleged in the complaint, an investigator shall attempt to eliminate the practice complained of by conference, conciliation and persuasion within fifty days of the finding." General Statutes § 46a-83 (g). If the investigator fails to eliminate a discriminatory practice, the investigator must certify the complaint, hold a hearing on the matter, and order appropriate relief. General Statutes §§ 46a-84 and 46a-86. Thereafter, any party aggrieved by a final order of the commission may appeal to the Superior Court. General Statutes §§ 46a-94a (a) and 4-183.
If a party has filed a timely complaint with the commission and has obtained a release of jurisdiction, General Statutes § 46a-100 allows that party to file an action directly with the Superior Court without a ruling from the commission. General Statutes § 46a-101 (a), however, mandates that "[n]o action may be brought in accordance with section 46a-100 unless the complainant has received a release from the commission...."
"Read in its entirety ... CFEPA not only defines important rights designed to rid the workplace of discrimination, but also vests first-order administrative oversight and enforcement of these rights in the commission. It is the commission that is charged by the act with initial responsibility for the investigation and adjudication of claims of employment discrimination. That the act does not provide an unconditional private right of action for claimants
Because the court properly interpreted Judge Frechette's order as a finding that the defendant and SESI are separate and distinct entities, under current Connecticut precedent, it was proper for the court to conclude that the plaintiff failed to exhaust her administrative remedies as to the defendant. The court's conclusion was proper because the plaintiff did not commence an action against the defendant with the commission, nor did the plaintiff receive a release from the commission to sue the defendant. The plaintiff had administrative remedies available to her that could have afforded her meaningful relief under the federal and state statutes that govern her claim of gender discrimination. Her failure to bring her complaint against the defendant to the commission foreclosed her access to judicial relief because it deprived the trial court of jurisdiction to hear her complaint.
The plaintiff argues that we should adopt the federal rule discussed in part III A of this opinion and apply it to CFEPA, thereby holding that the failure to obtain a right to sue letter is a precondition that may be waived by the court upon proper compelling circumstances instead of a jurisdictional requirement. Because our Supreme Court has determined that a plaintiff who "fail[s] to follow the administrative route that the legislature has prescribed for [her] claim of discrimination ... lacks the statutory authority to pursue that claim in the Superior Court"; Sullivan v. Board of Police Commissioners, supra 196 Conn. at 216, 491 A.2d 1096; both the trial court and this court are bound by its decision. See Martin v. Plainville, 40 Conn.App. 179, 182, 669 A.2d 1241 (1996) (Appellate Court, as intermediate court, prevented from "reexamining or reevaluating Supreme Court precedent"), aff'd, 240 Conn. 105, 689 A.2d 1125 (1997); Lash v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 36 Conn.App. 623, 624, 652 A.2d 526 (1995) (Appellate Court "bound by Supreme Court precedent"), aff'd, 236 Conn. 318, 673 A.2d 84 (1996). Accordingly, we conclude that the court did not err in dismissing the plaintiff's cause of action under CFEPA for failing to exhaust her administrative remedies.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.