Vaezkoroni v. Domino's Pizza, Inc

In Vaezkoroni v. Domino's Pizza, Inc., Ky., 914 S.W.2d 341 (1995) the aggrieved employee filed three separate complaints with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission. Id. In each instance, the commission investigated the allegations, issued a "No Probable Cause" determination, and dismissed the complaint. Id. Following the dismissal of the complaints by the commission, Vaezkoroni filed a civil complaint in the Fayette Circuit Court based on the same allegations. Id. at 342. The trial court awarded summary judgment in favor of the employer, and a panel of this court affirmed the trial court based on the doctrine of res judicata. Id. In affirming the result of this court's panel for different reasons, the Kentucky Supreme Court held that the administrative and judicial avenues of relief in KRS Chapter 344 were alternative avenues of relief and that it would be absurd to allow an individual to choose an administrative remedy and then have the option of judicial relief. Id. The court also stated that "once any avenue of relief is chosen, the complainant must follow that avenue through to its final conclusion." Id. at 343. The Vaezkoroni case involved an aggrieved employee who had filed three separate complaints with the local human rights commission, each of which was pursued to final determination before that commission. 914 S.W.2d at 341. Clearly, the employee had completely and unsuccessfully pursued the administrative avenue of relief to a final determination before pursuing the judicial avenue. As the Kentucky Supreme Court stated, it would be "absurd" to allow the employee an alternative avenue of relief when the first avenue resulted in failure. Id. at 342.