WILLIAM F. JUNG, District Judge.
Before the Court is Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint (Dkt. 13) and Plaintiff's Response in Opposition (Dkt. 20). After careful consideration of the allegations of the Complaint (Dkt. 1) and the applicable law, the Court dismisses the complaint without prejudice.
In this employment discrimination case, Plaintiff worked full time for Defendant as a Medical Reception Technician. Dkt. 1 ¶¶ 15, 17. Eight months into her job, a customer of Defendant's exposed himself and masturbated in Plaintiff's presence.
The incident occurred on May 2, 2017. Dkt. 1 ¶ 23. That day, Defendant told Plaintiff to go home for her safety and fear of reprisal by the customer, and not to return until contacted. Dkt. 1 ¶ 26. Plaintiff was terminated on May 8, 2017. Dkt. 1 ¶ 27.
Plaintiff seeks damages in three counts: Title VII sex discrimination based on hostile work environment (Count I); retaliation (Count II), and religious discrimination (Count III). Dkt. 1. She alleges in Count I that Defendant failed to take remedial action to cure the sexual harassment, particularly after other employees complained about similar harassing behavior by the same customer. Dkt. 1 ¶¶ 31, 32, 33. She alleges in Count II that she was retaliated against "for engaging in protected activity," which action resulted in her termination. Dkt. 1 ¶34. She claims in Count III that as a Christian she was wrongfully required to work on Sundays. She had requested not be scheduled on Sundays and was later told by the human resources department that she would not be scheduled for Sundays. Dkt. 1 ¶¶ 20, 22. In this regard she alleges she "was discharged for failing to comply with the conflicting employment requirement." Dkt. 1 ¶ 55.
Defendant seeks to dismiss this action with prejudice under the Twombly-Iqbal standard.
An "employer may be found liable for the harassing conduct of its customers if the employer fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action in response to a hostile work environment of which the employer knew or reasonably should have known." Beckford v. Dep't of Corr., 605 F.3d 951, 957-58 (11
Defendant rightly takes issue with the absence of factual allegations of severity and pervasiveness. Any incidents involving the customer that occurred prior to May 2nd are not supported by any facts, save the one factual allegation that the customer had visited the facility before and asked Plaintiff out. A customer asking a medical reception technician out for a date is not severe or pervasive. Johnson v. Booker T. Washington Broadcasting Serv., Inc., 234 F.3d 501, 509 (11
Plaintiff's conclusory allegation that Defendant took no remedial action does not meet the Twombly-Iqbal standard. The facts alleged, to the contrary, show that Defendant did take remedial action. Management immediately sent Plaintiff home after the incident for her safety. The incident resulted in criminal charges being filed against the customer. Apparently management was involved in this process. See Stancombe v. New Process Steel LP, 652 F. App'x 729, 736 (11
A prima facie case of retaliation under Title VII requires a showing that 1) the plaintiff "engaged in statutorily protected expression;" 2) that she "suffered an adverse employment action;" and 3) that "there was some causal relation between the two events." Thomas v. Cooper Lighting, Inc., 506 F.3d 1361, 1363 (11
As discussed above, the customer's overtures before the incident of May 2
To show discrimination based on religion, Plaintiff must show 1) she had a bona fide religious belief that conflicted with an employment requirement, 2) she informed her employer of her belief, and 3) she was discharged for failing to comply with the conflicting employment requirement. Morrissette-Brown v. Mobile Infirmary Med. Ctr., 506 F.3d 1317, 1321 (11th Cir. 2007). The complaint contains no allegations that she was terminated based on her desire to not work on Sundays. There are no allegations that she ever refused to work on Sundays. Absent any facts surrounding an actual conflict between her religious beliefs and her employment requirements, there is no reasonable and actionable inference that Defendant discharged Plaintiff because of her religious practice. See Marshall v. Aryan Unlimited Staffing Solution, No. 12-81404, 2013 WL 836990, at *4 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 6, 2013) (dismissing complaint without prejudice on failure to accommodate claim where complaint lacked allegation that plaintiff was disciplined because of conflict between religious beliefs and employment requirements).