DEBORAH A. ROBINSON, United States Magistrate Judge.
Plaintiff Robert Lee Johnson, proceeding pro se, commenced this action against his former employer, Defendant Interstate Management Company, following its termination of his employment.
From 2006 until 2011, Plaintiff was employed as a cook at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza Hotel, an establishment managed by Defendant, a hotel management company. See generally Complaint (Document No. 1); Answer to Complaint (Document No. 16). On October 1, 2010, Plaintiff filed a complaint with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), charge number 570-2011-00006, alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), and the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). Complaint at 2. The EEOC was "unable to conclude that the information obtained establishe[d] violations of the statute," and mailed notice of Plaintiff's right to file a lawsuit on March 30, 2011. Defendant's Motion, Exhibit C (Document No. 25-3).
On March 21, 2011, Defendant terminated Plaintiff's employment at Hamilton
Following his termination, Plaintiff filed a complaint with the EEOC, charge number 570-2011-00907, alleging violations of Title VII, the ADEA, and the ADA. Id. at 15. In this April 22, 2011 complaint, Plaintiff alleged that he was discharged in retaliation for filing his previous EEOC complaint. Id. at 16. Specifically, Plaintiff alleged the following:
Id.
After investigating Plaintiff's complaint, the EEOC determined that it was "unable to conclude that the information obtained establishes violations of the statutes." Id. at 13. It mailed Plaintiff a notice on June 13, 2011, advising that Plaintiff could file a lawsuit within ninety days of his receipt of the notice. Id. at 13-14. Plaintiff sought reconsideration of the EEOC's decision, but the EEOC denied Plaintiff's request. Id. at 12.
Plaintiff initiated this action on September 12, 2011, and after the court granted his application to proceed in forma pauperis, the Clerk of Court filed his complaint
In his amended complaint, Plaintiff alleges "harassment in the workplace" and "hostile workplace environment" stemming from discrimination based on his race, national origin, or ethnicity. Amended Complaint (Document No. 20) at 1. Plaintiff alleges that another employee, referred to as Chef Spencer, "was racist against [Plaintiff]," who was the only black employee that worked in the kitchen, and was "hostile" towards him because Plaintiff "caught him sexual[ly] harassing someone." Id. at 3. Plaintiff avers that management knew, or should have known, about this behavior, because he reported it to human resources on three or four occasions. Id. at 2. Plaintiff also alleges "[d]iscrimination on the basis of age by apprenticeship programs." Id. at 2-3. With respect to Defendant's discriminatory actions, Plaintiff alleges that "[t]he [h]otel refuse[d] to give [him] a referral slip" after he injured himself while working, despite giving one to another employee. Id. at 3-4. Finally, Plaintiff contends that the complaint regarding the plastic on the chicken, that ultimately led to his termination, was "a set up" and that the evidence was "falsified" against him. Id. at 5.
Defendant, in moving to dismiss Plaintiff's amended complaint, contends that "plaintiff has failed to exhaust his administrative remedies and/or failed to timely file his claims." Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint ("Defendant's Memorandum") (Document No. 25) at 1. Defendant contends that Plaintiff's "entire amended complaint," in which he asserts "claims of workplace harassment based on his alleged disability, race, national origin, and ethnicity, as well as [his] claim for age discrimination," fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted because Plaintiff either failed to "first file a timely charge of discrimination with the EEOC" or filed suit "well after 90 days following the issuance of the right to sue...." Id. at 4-6. Defendant submits that "plaintiff is forestalled from filing any additional charges related to his employment with Interstate as it has been more than 300 days since his termination." Id. at 6.
Plaintiff contends that his amended complaint "is timely because it relates back to the original complaint, filed September 12, 2011." Response in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss ("Opposition") (Document No. 26) at 1; Plaintiff's Supplement to His Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (Document No. 37) at 1. Plaintiff argues that "[t]o the extent that the amended complaint alleges harassment in the workplace, these allegations are reasonably related to the April 22, 2011 EEOC charge, and are thus timely." Opposition at 2.
Defendant avers that under the standard of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15, the amended complaint does not relate back to the original complaint because it "attempts to set forth claims of harassment that allegedly had been occurring for years prior to plaintiff's termination,"
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require that a pleading stating a claim for relief contain "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief...." Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). "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." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). The plaintiff must plead "factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Id. (citation omitted). While the court must accept the allegations pled in the complaint as true, "[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice." Id. (citation omitted). "When ruling on a motion to dismiss, the Court may consider only the facts alleged in the complaint, any documents either attached to or incorporated in the complaint and matters of which a court may take judicial notice." Plummer v. Safeway, Inc., 934 F.Supp.2d 191, 195-96 (D.D.C.2013) (quoting EEOC v. St. Francis Xavier Parochial Sch., 117 F.3d 621, 624 (D.C.Cir.1997)) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted) (citing Ahuja v. Detica Inc., 742 F.Supp.2d 96, 101-02 (D.D.C.2010) for the proposition that "a court may consider an EEOC Notice of Charge on a motion to dismiss because such records are `public documents of which a court may take judicial notice'").
When a litigant is proceeding pro se, the complaint "must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers...." Jones v. Horne, 634 F.3d 588, 596 (D.C.Cir.2011) (quoting Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007)). Even under the less stringent standard, however, "it must plead factual matter that permits the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct." Id. (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The court has already determined that "plaintiff cannot bring a claim of retaliation for having filed an OSHA complaint." Memorandum Opinion at 7. Accordingly, the undersigned will not consider Plaintiff's allegations regarding Defendant's "health violation" for leaving out "bottles of chemicals" or Plaintiff's allegations regarding the hotel's "illegal renovation without a building permit." See Amended Complaint at 2-4.
With respect to Plaintiff's claim of retaliation for having filed an EEOC complaint, the undersigned finds that said claim is properly before the court since it survived Defendant's previous motion to dismiss. See Memorandum Opinion at 5, 9 ("Plaintiff's retaliation claims are not time-barred and will therefore not be dismissed on that ground."). In so finding, the court
Finally, from what the court can ascertain, broadly construing Plaintiff's pleadings, Plaintiff has asserted new claims of "harassment in the workplace" based on his race, national origin, or ethnicity, resulting in a "hostile workplace environment," and of age discrimination.
Defendant argues that Plaintiff's EEOC charge only encompasses his claim of retaliatory discharge, and accordingly, Plaintiff's additional claims "are outside the scope of the charge and should be dismissed" for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. Defendant's Memorandum at 5-6. Plaintiff counters that the "allegations are reasonably related to the April 22, 2011 EEOC charge, and are thus timely." Opposition at 2.
It is well established that "[p]rior to filing a Title VII suit, a plaintiff must exhaust his administrative remedies by filing an EEOC charge outlining his allegations." Duberry v. Inter-Con Sec. Sys., Inc., 898 F.Supp.2d 294, 298 (D.D.C.2012) (citing 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)). Similarly, no civil action under the ADEA may be commenced unless the individual has timely filed with the EEOC a charge of unlawful discrimination. 29 U.S.C. § 626(d). "If a plaintiff does not timely exhaust his administrative remedies ... his claim is subject to dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Noisette v. Lew, 934 F.Supp.2d 200, 202 (D.D.C.2013) (citation omitted); see also Koch v. Walter, 935 F.Supp.2d 164, 170-71 (D.D.C.2013) ("Prudential exhaustion under Title VII and the ADEA ... is evaluated either under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim or ... under Rule 56.").
"A Title VII lawsuit following the EEOC charge is limited in scope to claims that are like or reasonably related to the allegations of the charge and growing out of such allegations." Park v. Howard Univ., 71 F.3d 904, 907 (D.C.Cir.1995) (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks
"Although it is true that the administrative charge requirement should not be construed to place a heavy technical burden on individuals untrained in negotiating procedural labyrinths, it is also true that the requirement of some specificity in a charge is not a mere technicality." Park, 71 F.3d at 907 (internal quotation marks omitted) (citations omitted). "Allowing a complaint to encompass allegations outside the ambit of the predicate EEOC charge would circumvent the EEOC's investigatory and conciliatory role, as well as deprive the charged party of notice of the charge, as surely as would an initial failure to file a timely EEOC charge." Marshall v. Fed. Express Corp., 130 F.3d 1095, 1098 (D.C.Cir.1997) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted) (quoting Schnellbaecher v. Baskin Clothing Co., 887 F.2d 124, 127 (7th Cir.1989)).
In his April 22, 2011 EEOC charge form, in the section labeled "discrimination based on," Plaintiff indicated that the alleged discrimination was based on retaliation, and did not check any of the other boxes. Complaint, Exhibit 1 at 16. Under "date(s) discrimination took place," only "03-22-2011," the date on which Plaintiff was terminated, appears. Id. Further, the freetext section requesting the "particulars" of the discrimination only contains allegations regarding Plaintiff's termination in retaliation for filing an EEOC complaint. See id. Beneath the signature block, Plaintiff added "I was the only Black Afro American that worked in the kitchen [illegible] Spencer Wolf did not like Blacks. He is racist." Id.
Reviewing the charge form, the undersigned finds that the claims of harassment, hostile work environment and age discrimination which Plaintiff alleges in his
Accordingly, the court finds that Plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to his claims of harassment, hostile work environment and age discrimination. Thus, those claims are dismissed, and only Plaintiff's claim of termination in retaliation for filing an EEOC complaint survives.
Having dismissed Plaintiff's claims of harassment, hostile work environment, and age discrimination for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, the court need not consider the timeliness of these claims. With respect to Plaintiff's claim of termination in retaliation for filing an EEOC complaint, the court (Huvelle, J.) has already determined that the claim is timely. Memorandum Opinion at 5-6.
For the foregoing reasons, it is, this 27th day of August, 2013,