Gaynor v. Martin, 3:99CV115(GLG).

77 F.Supp.2d 272

Paul GAYNOR, Plaintiff, v. Louis MARTIN, and Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, Defendants.

No. 3:99CV115(GLG).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

November 29, 1999.

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Gerald M. Gaynor, Monroe, CT, for Paul A. Gaynor.

David Michael Teed, Attorney General's Office, Special Litigation, Hartford, CT, for Louis Martin.

MEMORANDUM DECISION

GOETTEL, District Judge.

Defendant, the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, has moved to dismiss this action on five grounds:

(1) The complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and, therefore, this case must be dismissed pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6);

(2) This complaint is barred, at least in part, by the Eleventh Amendment, and, therefore, this case must be dismissed pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), 12(b)(2), and 12(b)(6);

(3) This complaint was never served on the defendant Louis Martin, and, therefore, this case must be dismissed as to him pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(5);

(4) The plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies, and, therefore, this case must be dismissed pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), 12(b)(2), and 12(b)(6); and

(5) The plaintiff failed to prosecute this matter, and, therefore, this case must be dismissed pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(b).

BACKGROUND

Since 1989, plaintiff has been employed as an investigator by the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities ("the Commission"). His complaint, which contains 93 paragraphs and seventeen pages, is a litany of his dissatisfaction with his employment. (His complaint is in complete disregard of Rule 8(a), Fed.R.Civ.P., which requires "a short and plain statement" of the claims). In general plaintiff claims that, as a white male, he was subjected to different terms and treatment by his employer than "[d]efendants' favored employees," (Compl.¶ 26), which treatment was "motivated solely by the [p]laintiff's race, color and sex and for having complained of the [d]efendants' discriminatory conduct and practices." (Compl.¶ 1). Central to his complaint is his claim that, when he requested a voluntary reduction in his work schedule to three-and-one-half days per week, the Commission was slow to act upon this request, although his request was ultimately granted. (Plaintiff maintains that the delay was an act of deliberate retaliation and that the Commission had granted similar requests of female minority employees). Spread throughout his lengthy complaint are additional, generalized allegations that the Commission systematically harassed the white male managerial staff and favored female minority employees.

Plaintiff's complaint contains seven claims for relief for defendants' alleged violation of his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; for violation of Title VII (based upon defendants' alleged discrimination against him on the basis of his race, color, and gender, unlawful retaliation, and hostile work environment); and under state law for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiff seeks a judgment for compensatory damages, including lost wages and other sums of money (although the complaint does not specify how the plaintiff suffered these financial damages), as well as for liquidated damages and prejudgment interest.

DISCUSSION

I. Failure to State a Claim

Plaintiff's complaint states that it is brought under virtually every conceivable federal civil rights law, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1981a, 1983, the Fourteenth Amendment, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343(a), as well as the "common law," and "state law" through 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). (Compl.¶2). Indeed, plaintiff argues in opposition to defendant's motion to dismiss that "[t]his action alleges violations of virtually every conceivable civil rights law," which he attributes "not due to the overreaching of the [p]laintiff but due to the venality of the [d]efendants." (Pl.'s Mem. in Support of Obj. to Mot. to Dismiss at 2).

The events detailed in the complaint occurred primarily during the year 1998. At that time, the Commission was a troubled agency with its then Executive Director, Louis Martin, the subject of much criticism. In 1998, Martin left the Commission and was replaced by an Acting Executive Director, J. Elijah Brown. The papers filed with this motion indicate that there have been a number of civil complaints filed involving Martin's actions while Executive Director of the Commission. The general lack of specificity throughout the complaint suggests that plaintiff recognizes that in Martin he has a target defendant, and that plaintiff is grasping for a cause of action to assert. Whether plaintiff has successfully found a viable cause of action is the issue we must address in ruling on defendant's Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss.

In ruling on a motion to dismiss, we accept all allegations of the complaint as true. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). "[I]t may appear on the face of the pleadings that a recovery may be very remote and unlikely but that is not the test." Id. When considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, a district court should not dismiss a complaint unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts consistent with the pleadings which would entitle him to relief. H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., 492 U.S. 229, 249-50, 109 S.Ct. 2893, 106 L.Ed.2d 195 (1989); Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Williams v. Vincent, 508 F.2d 541, 543 (2d Cir.1974).

A. Plaintiff's Claims under the ADA and ADEA

Although plaintiff states in paragraph 2 of his complaint that he is bringing this action under the ADEA and the ADA, neither statute is mentioned elsewhere in his complaint or in his seven "Claims for Relief," and nowhere does plaintiff allege that he falls within the protections of either statute — i.e., that he is over the age of 40 or that he is an otherwise qualified individual with a disability. He does make a single reference to "younger" female staff members receiving more favorable treatment than he received (Compl.¶ 24). That statement, without more, does not state a claim under the ADEA. He also makes several references to not receiving "equal accommodation," (Compl. ¶ 79c), but nowhere mentions with respect to what disability, if any,¹ he was seeking an accommodation. Otherwise, plaintiff never refers to "age" or "disability" in his complaint. Thus, we hold that plaintiff has failed to state a claim under either the ADEA or the ADA and dismiss those claims.

B. Plaintiff's Claims under Title VII

Construing the complaint most liberally in plaintiff's favor, as we are required to do, see Annis v. County of Westchester, 36 F.3d 251, 253 (2d Cir.1994), it appears that plaintiff is attempting to set forth three separate Title VII claims against defendants: disparate treatment in the terms and conditions of his employment; harassment and hostile work environment; and retaliation. Defendant contends that plaintiff's allegations address only trivial employment actions that are not sufficient to form the basis of a discrimination lawsuit.

1. Disparate Treatment in Terms & Conditions of Employment

Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer, inter alia, "to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). Its protections are not limited to hirings, firings, or promotions. Plaintiff alleges that the Commission and defendant Martin repeatedly subjected him to differential terms and treatment motivated solely by plaintiff's race, color and sex. (Compl.¶ 1). He alleges that he was treated differently than female employees with respect to defendant's denial of his request for a voluntary schedule reduction, whereas similar requests had repeatedly and routinely been granted to younger, female employees. (Compl.¶ 24). He alleges that, thereafter, he was required to assume an inequitable work allocation due to the favoritism shown to defendants' "favored employees." (Compl. ¶ 26). He claims that he received intentional and fallacious written warnings and critical evaluations as part of the Commission's agencywide policy of discrimination and retaliation against white, male employees, fostered by defendant Martin. (Compl. ¶¶ 28, 35). Plaintiff further alleges that he was not considered for a promotional position despite his superior qualifications to those of the black female who was selected. (Compl. ¶ 65). Plaintiff has sufficiently alleged that he was subjected to discrimination in the terms and conditions of his employment to survive a motion to dismiss.

2. Hostile Work Environment

We agree with defendant, however, that plaintiff has not sufficiently alleged a viable claim under Title VII for hostile work environment. To state a claim for hostile work environment, a plaintiff must allege that the workplace was permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult that was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of his employment and create an abusive work environment. Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 21, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993); see also Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 67, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986); Gallagher v. Delaney, 139 F.3d 338, 347 (2d Cir.1998); Schwapp v. Town of Avon, 118 F.3d 106, 110 (2d Cir.1997); Tomka v. Seiler Corp., 66 F.3d 1295, 1305 (2d Cir. 1995). Under Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. 75, ___...