WILLIAM T. MOORE, JR., District Judge.
Before the Court is Intervenor Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia's (the "Board") Motion to Dismiss. (Doc. 16.) For the following reasons, the Board's Motion to Dismiss is
On July 8, 2015, Plaintiff filed a complaint against Herty Advanced Materials Development Center ("HAMDC"). (Doc. 1.) She alleged that the entity had hired her in April of 2012 to act as a quality control laboratory technician. (
While she was recovering, Plaintiff learned that an employee had been hired to replace her. (
On July 9, 2015, the Court issued a summons to Herty Advanced Materials Development Center, care of Alexander A. Koukoulas. (Doc. 2.) On November 13, 2015, an entity named Herty Advanced Materials Development Center, LLC ("Herty, LLC") answered the complaint.
On July 12, 2016, the Board filed a Motion to Intervene. (Doc. 13.) The motion was granted on August 2, 2016. (Doc. 14.) On August 15, 2016, the Board filed a renewed motion to dismiss the complaint in lieu of an answer. (Doc. 16.) In response to the Board's Motion to Dismiss, Plaintiff, who does not contest the applicability of the Eleventh Amendment to the Board, argued that the Court should grant Plaintiff the opportunity to discover the identity of her actual employer. (Doc. 20.) Plaintiff noted that she served HAMDC and the individual that terminated her from HAMDC, Alexander Koukoulas. (
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires a complaint to contain "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." "[T]he pleading standard Rule 8 announces does not require `detailed factual allegations,' but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation."
"To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to `state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'"
When the Court considers a motion to dismiss, it accepts the well-pleaded facts in the complaint as true.
The Board argues in its Motion to Dismiss that it was Plaintiff's employer and, therefore, Plaintiff's claims are barred for various reasons, including that the Board is immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment. (Doc. 16.) The Board also argues that because Plaintiff served HAMDC and not the Chancellor of the Board, as required by Georgia law, Plaintiff's claims should be dismissed for improper service. (
As an initial matter, the parties disagree as to which entity employed Plaintiff during the relevant time period. Apparently, there are two entities using the Herty Advanced Material Development Center name: one an LLC and one an entity overseen by the Board. Due to the uncertainty surrounding which of these entities was Plaintiff's former employer, the Court directed the parties to explain the employment relationship between the Plaintiff and the various Herty entities. (Doc. 25.) Following the Court's order, the Board filed a brief addressing the employment of Plaintiff. (Doc. 28.) In its brief, the Board argued that it "became Plaintiff's employer" when O.C.G.A. § 20-3-73.3 was codified, "transferring ownership of HAMDC to [the Board] effective July 1, 2012...." (Doc. 28 at 1.) The Board argues that § 20-3-73.3 transferred to the Board all "obligations, liabilities, and rights" of HAMDC and the Board became "the successor to and continuation of the former board of trustees" of HAMDC. (
In Plaintiff's response to the Board's brief, Plaintiff argues that she was not employed by the Board because the entity "created" by § 20-3-73.3 was "The Georgia Southern University Herty Advanced Materials Development Center" and "Plaintiff's employment-related documents do not refer to her employer as Georgia Southern University, [the Board], or Georgia Southern University Herty Advanced Materials Development Center." (Doc. 29 at 2.) Because Herty, LLC answered Plaintiff's complaint and Herty, LLC has the same CEO/President and address as HAMDC, Plaintiff asserts that she "does not have the ability to detect any further information on the topic [of her employment]" and, therefore, the Court should allow discovery on the issue. (
Following Plaintiff's response, Herty, LLC filed a brief arguing that it could not have been Plaintiff's former employer because "Plaintiff was hired by her actual employer well before [Herty, LLC] came into existence...." (Doc. 33 at 3.) Specifically, Herty, LLC argues that it was not registered as a limited liability company until July 23, 2013 (Doc. 33, Attach. 1), it did not execute its Company Agreement until December 1, 2013 (Doc. 33, Attach. 2), and it was not assigned an EIN until December 3, 2013 (Doc. 33, Attach. 3). (Doc. 33 at 3.)
The Court must first determine which Herty entity employed Plaintiff at the time of her leave and subsequent termination. Plaintiff admitted that she "was employed with HAMDC prior to transfer of ownership of the HAMDC to [the Board]." (Doc. 29 at 3.) Plaintiff also submitted numerous documents naming her employer as HAMDC, including her 2013 W-2 form (Doc. 33, Attach. 2), her total compensation statement (Doc. 33, Attach. 1), and her direct deposit statements (Doc. 33, Attach. 4). Notably, these documents do not name the Board or Herty, LLC as Plaintiff's employer. Although HAMDC and Herty, LLC have the same address and at least one overlapping employee, Mr. Koukoulas, Plaintiff could not have been employed by Herty, LLC. Herty, LLC did not exist at the time Plaintiff was hired by HAMDC and did not receive its EIN until after Plaintiff was terminated from HAMDC. Therefore, taking all facts pleaded in Plaintiff's complaint as true, the Court finds that Plaintiff's former employer was HAMDC, not Herty, LLC. The parties do not dispute that ownership and control of HAMDC was transferred to the Board on July 1, 2012 and "that Plaintiff was employed by HAMDC prior to transfer of ownership of [] HAMDC to [the Board]." (Doc. 29 at 3.) As a result, the Court finds that the Board does control HAMDC. However, the Court notes that Plaintiff's employment-related documents name only HAMDC as Plaintiff's employer, list only HAMDC's address, and state that HAMDC's CEO/President terminated Plaintiff's employment. Moreover, the Board failed to produce evidence showing that it was named as Plaintiff's employer on any employment-related documents. Therefore, the Court finds that Plaintiff did not work directly for the Board, but for HAMDC, and naming HAMDC as her employer was a reasonable misunderstanding.
In its Motion to dismiss, the Board argues that Plaintiff's claims must be dismissed because it was Plaintiff's employer, and, as an agency of the State of Georgia, the Board is entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity. (Doc. 16 at 8-9, 12.) However, as previously explained, Plaintiff was not directly employed by the Board, but by HAMDC, an entity controlled and owned by the Board. Accordingly, for HAMDC to be immune from certain claims under the Eleventh Amendment, it must be considered and "arm of the State."
Eleventh Amendment immunity not only protects state agencies from suit for money damages, but also extends to public entities acting as state instrumentalities or "arms of the State."
Here, state law expressly defines HAMDC as an entity controlled and owned by the Board.
Because the Court finds that HAMDC is afforded Eleventh Amendment immunity, the Court will now address which of Plaintiff's claims against HAMDC are barred by the Eleventh Amendment. In her complaint, Plaintiff asserts claims against HAMDC under the ADA and the FMLA. (Doc. 1 at 5-7.) Plaintiff's complaint did not specify under which provisions of the ADA and FMLA she brings her claims, however, the Court will construe Plaintiff's alleged facts to bring claims under Article I of the ADA, the self-care provision of the FMLA, and the family-care provision of the FMLA.
Plaintiff brings a claim against HAMDC for violating "the ADA by terminating Plaintiff based on her known or perceived disability and by refusing to make reasonable accommodations for Plaintiff's known or perceived disability." (
Title I of the ADA prohibits certain employers, including states, from "discriminating against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment." 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). "However, the United States Supreme Court has specifically held that the Eleventh Amendment bars private individuals from filing suit against states under Title I [of the ADA] for money damages."
In this case, Plaintiff is a private citizen bringing a claim under Title I of the ADA against HAMDC. As an arm of the state, HAMDC is protected by the Eleventh Amendment and, as a result, is immune from Plaintiff's ADA claim. Accordingly, Plaintiff's claim against HADMC arising under Article I of the ADA is
Even if Plaintiff had shown that HADMC was not entitled to immunity, Plaintiff's complaint is insufficient to state a claim for which relief can be granted under the ADA. "To prevail on her ADA claim, plaintiff ultimately must show that: (1) she has a disability, (2) she is a `qualified individual' as defined by the ADA, and (3) defendant discriminated against her because of her disability."
Plaintiff fails to assert specific facts in her complaint to survive a motion to dismiss. As for the first and second elements of an ADA claim, Plaintiff conclusively asserts she is a qualified individual with a disability because she suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome and cubital tunnel syndrome. (Doc. 1 at 7.) Moreover, she asserts that HAMDC violated the ADA by not providing her with an accommodation for her disability, but does not specifically allege the accommodations she requested. Most of Plaintiff's allegations merely restate the elements necessary for a claim under the ADA. These conclusory allegations are insufficient to state a claim for which relief can be granted.
In addition to her ADA claim, Plaintiff brings claims under the FMLA. The FMLA allows eligible employees to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave per year for any of several reasons, including a "serious health condition" of the employee or her spouse, child, or parent.
As for Plaintiff's claim arising under the self-care provision of the FMLA, Plaintiff argues that when she "took leave from work due to a surgery ... [HAMDC] interfered with Plaintiff's FMLA leave and retaliated against Plaintiff under the FMLA by terminating Plaintiff prior to the conclusion of her FMLA leave period." (Doc. 1 at 5.) The self-care provision of the FMLA "entitles an `eligible employee' up to twelve weeks of leave during any twelve month period if necessitated by `a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of [his or her] position.'"
As previously discussed, HAMDC is am arm of the State due to the Board's control, ownership, and governance of HAMDC.
However, Plaintiff's claims under the family-care provision of the FMLA are not barred by the Eleventh Amendment. In its Motion to Dismiss, the Board only argues immunity to the extent that Plaintiff's claims arise under the self-care provision of the FMLA. (Doc. 16 at 12.) The Court agrees that Eleventh Amendment immunity only protects HAMDC and the Board from claims arising under the self-care provision. States, or arms of States, are not immune from suit for claims arising under the family-care provisions of the FMLA.
Along with its immunity arguments, the Board also argues in its Motion to Dismiss that Plaintiff's claims should be dismissed because Plaintiff failed to properly serve the Board, Plaintiff failed to exhaust her administrative remedies under the ADA, and Plaintiff's FMLA claim is time-barred. (Doc. 16.) Although Plaintiff failed to respond to these arguments in her response to the Board's Motion to Dismiss, the Court will not dismiss Plaintiff's claims on these grounds.
First, the Board argues that Plaintiff's ADA claims should be dismissed because "Plaintiff failed to personally serve [the Board] by serving the summons and complaint upon its Chancellor" as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(j)(2) and O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4(e)(5) (requiring that a party suing a state agency serve process by delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to the chief executive officer). (
Second, the Board argues that Plaintiff's ADA claim should be dismissed because "Plaintiff failed to assert in her complaint that she filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") against the proper defendant within 180 days as required by law." (Doc. 16 at 10.) Plaintiff filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC, but her charge was against HAMDC, not the Board. (Doc. 20, Attach. 7.) Plaintiff's notice of right-to-sue letter was mailed on April 9, 2015. (
Lastly, the Board argues that Plaintiff's FMLA claims should be dismissed because Plaintiff failed to file suit against the Board "within two years after the date of the last event constituting a violation." (Doc. 16 at 11.) An action under the FMLA must be brought within two years of "the date of the last event constituting the alleged violation for which the action is brought." 29 U.S.C. § 2617(c)(1). Plaintiff was terminated on November 12, 2013 and she brought this action on July 8, 2015. (Doc. 1.) Therefore, Plaintiff's FMLA claims were brought within the two-year statute of limitations. Although the Board argues that the claims were not brought against the Board within two years because the Board was not named as the defendant in Plaintiff's complaint, Plaintiff did name HAMDC in her complaint. The Board asserts that HAMDC "ceased to exist" (Doc. 21 at 3), but Plaintiff's employment-related documents continued to list her employer as HAMDC (Doc. 20, Attach. 4). Moreover, the Board cannot argue that it has such control and ownership of HAMDC to be Plaintiff's employer yet deny that service on HAMDC and Herty, LLC does not sufficiently provide the Board notice of suit. Therefore, the Court will not dismiss Plaintiff's remaining FMLA claim under the family-care provision based on this argument.
However, Plaintiff now knows that the Board is a proper defendant in this matter. Accordingly, Plaintiff must perfect service on the Board in compliance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Georgia law. If Plaintiff fails to perfect service on the Board within
For the foregoing reasons, the Board's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 16) is
Due to the clarification as to Plaintiff's former employer and the claims that Plaintiff can bring against HAMDC and the Board, Plaintiff is
SO ORDERED.