Ahuja v. Detica Inc.

742 F.Supp.2d 96

Kalpana AHUJA, Plaintiff,

v.DETICA INC., Defendant.

Civil Action No. 09–2246 (CKK).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Sept. 30, 2010.

Richard Ethelbert Patrick, Patrick Henry LLP, Annandale, VA, for Plaintiff.Reenah L. Kim, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

COLLEEN KOLLAR–KOTELLY, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Kalpana Ahuja, brings this action against her former employer, Detica, Incorporated (“Defendant”). Plaintiff alleges that Defendant discriminated against her on the basis of her gender, race, and national origin in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., on the basis of her race in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (“ § 1981”), and the basis of her age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. Presently before the Court are Defendant's [4] Partial Motion to Dismiss Complaint and Motion to Strike Certain Allegations (“Def.'s Mot.”); Plaintiff's [9] Opposition to Defendant's Partial Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Strike Certain Allegations (“Pl.'s Opp'n”), in which Plaintiff also requested leave to amend the Complaint; and Defendant's [10] Reply in Support of its Partial Motion to Dismiss Complaint and Motion to Strike Certain Allegations (“Def.'s Reply”). The Court has thoroughly reviewed the parties' submissions, applicable case law, the relevant statutory and regulatory authority, as well as the record of the case as a whole. For the reasons set forth below, the Court shall GRANT–IN–PART, DENY–IN–PART, and HOLD–IN–ABEYANCE–IN–PART Defendant's [4] Partial Motion to Dismiss and DENY Plaintiff's construed motion for leave to amend the Complaint. Specifically, the Court shall: (1) convert Defendant's motions to dismiss Plaintiff's ADEA, Title VII retaliation, and Title VII hostile work environment claims to motions for summary judgment because the parties' filings relied on documents outside the pleadings when discussing these motions; (2) grant Defendant's converted motion to dismiss Plaintiff's Title VII hostile work environment claim (Count I) for failure to state a claim; (3) grant Defendant's converted motion to dismiss Plaintiff's ADEA claims (Counts III & IV) for failure to exhaust administrative remedies; (4) hold in abeyance Defendant's converted motion to dismiss Plaintiff's Title VII retaliation claim (Count IV) for failure to exhaust administrative remedies; (5) deny Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's purported pattern and practice claims for failure to state a claim; (6) deny Defendant's motion to strike the Complaint's allegations of Defendant's pattern and practices; (7) deny Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's purported Title VII claims for discrimination in hiring, compensation and benefits, performance evaluations, and demotions; (8) grant Defendant's motion to dismiss as time barred Plaintiff's remaining Title VII claims based on events occurring prior to March 8, 2007; (9) grant Defendant's motion to dismiss as time barred Plaintiff's § 1981 claims based on discrete acts of discrimination occurring prior to November 25, 2004; and (10) deny Plaintiff's construed motion for leave to amend the Complaint.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, a female of Asian–Indian ancestry, began working for Defendant's Information Technology (“IT”) Division on January 2, 2002. Complaint ¶¶ 14, 17, Docket No. [1]. Plaintiff signed an employment agreement with Defendant on June 21, 2004, which was renewed annually until Plaintiff's termination on December 31, 2007. Id. ¶ 18; see also Pl.'s Opp'n Ex. 2 (Plaintiff's Arlington Human Rights Comm'n Emp't Discrimination Intake Questionnaire) (hereinafter “Intake Questionnaire”), at 2. Initially, Plaintiff helped develop Defendant's IT Division and, eventually, Plaintiff became one of Defendant's five IT project managers. Compl. ¶¶ 17–20. While working for Defendant, Plaintiff was supervised by Phil Vincenzes, a Caucasian male, and Matthew Travis, Defendant's president and a Caucasian male. Compl. ¶ 21. Plaintiff alleges that despite six years of exceptional work, she was never awarded a promotion and, in fact, that Mr. Vincenzes suppressed her promotion through the company. Id. ¶¶ 38, 45.

In September 2004, Plaintiff informed Mr. Vincenzes that Stuart Zimmerman, one of Plaintiff's subordinates who is a Caucasian male, was not performing his duties properly. Id. ¶ 46; see also Intake Questionnaire at 7. Mr. Zimmerman then filed allegations of harassment against Plaintiff. Compl. ¶ 46. Although Defendant's human resources department concluded that Plaintiff did not harass Mr. Zimmerman and the whole incident was a due to a misunderstanding, Plaintiff alleges that thereafter Mr. Vincenzes favored Mr. Zimmerman, ostracized Plaintiff, and forced Plaintiff to write Mr. Zimmerman an apology. Id. ¶¶ 47–48.

Around December 2006, Plaintiff complained to John Capitelli, a member of Defendant's human resources department, that she was being discriminated against by her coworkers based on her race, national origin, and gender. See id. ¶ 52, 58. As a result of this complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Mr. Vincenzes and Mr. Travis retaliated against her in various forms, including not inviting her to meetings, ostracizing her, and removing her from projects. Id. Approximately two months later, on February 26, 2007, Plaintiff filed a complaint with HR due to the alleged harassment of Kathleen McDonald, a Caucasian female coworker. Id. ¶ 53. Plaintiff alleges that after this complaint, Defendant's management removed her from projects and disciplined her. Id. ¶ 57. On March 16, 2007, Plaintiff complained again to HR that she was being discriminated against based on her race, gender, and national origin. Id. ¶ 58. These complaints, Plaintiff alleges, were never investigated by HR and no formal documentation of her complaints was created. Id. ¶ 59.

Plaintiff became pregnant in July 2007. Id. ¶ 25. On approximately November 12, 2007, Plaintiff informed Mr. Vincenzes and Mr. Travis that she was four months into a high risk pregnancy and requested maternity leave commencing in the end of March 2008, to the beginning of June 2008. Id. Plaintiff alleges that at the time of this request she had amassed 233 hours of leave and 60 additional hours of sick leave. Id. ¶ 26. Plaintiff further alleges that Defendant offers four weeks of maternity leave to its employees and that prior to Plaintiff's termination Defendant had granted maternity leave to four Caucasian, non-Asian, employees, including one employee who requested maternity leave at approximately the same time as Plaintiff. Id. ¶¶ 26–27.

On November 30, 2007, Mr. Travis and Mr. Vincenzes informed Plaintiff that due to a decrease in projects and funding, Plaintiff would be terminated on December 31, 2007. Id. ¶¶ 21, 62. Plaintiff was the only IT project manager terminated at that time and none of the other IT project managers were of Asian–Indian ancestry. Id. ¶¶ 28–29. Plaintiff alleges that when terminated she was the longest tenured IT project manager, had more seniority than three of other the IT project managers, and was equal in seniority to the fourth IT project manager. Id. ¶¶ 23, 28. Plaintiff also claims that she was replaced by two Caucasian American males who were both younger than forty years old. Id. ¶ 33. A month after her termination, on January 30, 2008, Defendant contacted Plaintiff and offered to rehire her at one hundred dollars per hour, without benefits. Id. ¶¶ 36, 37.

Shortly after her termination, January 2, 2008, Plaintiff filed an Intake Questionnaire with Dennis Sumlin, a Human Rights Investigator/Intake Officer with the Arlington Human Rights Commission, in which she alleged that Defendant had discriminated against her. See Intake Questionnaire; Pl.'s Opp'n Ex. 2, at 1. The Intake Questionnaire informs complainants, such as Plaintiff, that “The information requested on this form will help us to understand your allegations. Please complete the information to the best of your ability. An Intake officer will review the information and talk to you about filing a complaint after you have completed this form.” Intake Questionnaire at 1; see also id. at 12 (informing complainants that they have “the responsibility to cooperate with this office in order to continue the process of filing a complaint” and that their “failure to do so will result in the termination of this process”) (changed from all capital letters). In the Intake Questionnaire, Plaintiff checked boxes indicating that she believed Defendant retaliated against her and discriminated against her on the basis of her race, sex, and national origin. Id. at 4. The Intake Questionnaire totals twelve pages, eight of which include Plaintiff's factual allegations regarding her claims of discrimination. See id. at 4–11.

On May 12, 2008, Plaintiff filed her “Complaint of Discrimination” (hereinafter “EEOC Complaint”) with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) alleging, inter alia, that Defendant discriminated against her “because of [her] sex, female, relating to pregnancy; race (Asian); and national origin (India)....” Def.'s Mot. Ex. 1, at 1. On May 21, 2008, the EEOC served Mr. Travis a “Notice of Charge of Discrimination” (hereinafter “Notice of Charge”) indicating that Plaintiff had filed a charge of discrimination against Defendant that alleged discrimination based on race, sex, and national origin in violation of Title VII. The EEOC issued Plaintiff a right to sue letter on September 2, 2009. Compl. Ex. A. On November 25, 2009, Plaintiff filed the Complaint in this case asserting claims of discrimination based on race, gender, pregnancy, national origin, creation of hostile work environment, and disparate treatment under Title VII, Compl. ¶ 78–79 (Count I); discrimination based on race, creation of a hostile work environment and disparate treatment...