762.4 Official Notice

Although the record in the hearing was devoid of any evidence as to the definition of the crime of burglary, the Administrative Law Judge may take official notice of the state statute which defines the crime of burglary when determining if the crime of burglary is substantially related to a particular job. Santos v. Whitehead Specialties, Inc. (LIRC, 02/26/92).

LIRC took administrative notice that a Complainant was aware of the significance of a witness and exhibit list where the Complainant had filed many complaints with the Equal Rights Division in the past. Young v. Leach (LIRC, 12/18/90).

There was no testimony as to how large a menu would have to be in order for a person with 20/200 vision to read the menu. The Personnel Commission could not take judicial notice of such a fact because such a determination was outside the realm of generally recognized fact, and there was no foundation in the record as to the established technical or scientific facts upon which such a determination would be based. Betlach-Odegaard v. UW-Madison (Wis. Pers. Comm’n, 12/07/90).

Where the Administrative Law Judge concluded that the Respondent did not know of the Complainant's race at the time he failed to consider his application for employment, she also appropriately rejected the argument of the Complainant that official notice could be taken of the fact that the Complainant spoke with a recognizable “black dialect” and that therefore it could be inferred, based on his telephone conversation with the person who made the hiring decision, that the person must have known he was black. This was not a proper subject for official notice under sec. 227.45(3), Stats. Ealy v. Roundy’s (LIRC, 03/12/87).

The circuit court may take judicial notice of the generally known procedure in which a Complainant goes to the Equal Rights Division, tells her story to an investigator, and then signs a complaint prepared by the investigator. Hiegel v. LIRC, 121 Wis. 2d 205, 359 N.W.2d 405 (Ct. App. 1984).