McCoy v. City of New York

131 F.Supp.2d 363

Jeffery McCOY, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, City of New York Parks and Recreation, Parks Commissioner, Jerome Candrilli, Vincent Cascella, Anthony Modafferi, Geraldine Lawless, and George Scarpelli, Defendants.

No. 99 CV 537(ILG).

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

February 14, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Kenneth W. Richardson, New York City, for Plaintiffs.

Henrique Oliviera, Corporation Counsel, New York City, for Defendants.

Memorandum & Order

GLASSER, District Judge.

Plaintiff Jeffery McCoy brings this employment discrimination action pursuant to those provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-2(a)(1), 2000e-3(a), that proscribe a hostile work environment and retaliation; 42 U.S.C. § 1981; the New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y.Exec.Law § 296; and the New York Human Rights Law, N.Y. City Admin.Code §§ 8-101 et seq. Defendants the City of New York, the City of New York Parks and Recreation ("Parks Department"), the Parks Commissioner, and Parks Supervisors Jerome Candrilli, Vincent Cascella, Anthony Modafferi, Geraldine Lawless, and George Scarpelli collectively move for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, defendants' motion should be granted.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, an African American, worked for the Parks Department from June 15, 1990 to June 2, 1998. Plaintiff began his tenure at the Parks Department as a seasonal worker and worked his way up to a crew chief and summer supervisor for the Work Experience Program ("WEP") in Staten Island. Plaintiff left the Parks Department in June 1998 due to an injury and has since been on voluntary leave.

Plaintiff has not submitted a separate statement of facts pursuant to Local Civil Rule 56.1 as to which he contends that there exists a genuine issue to be tried, but has submitted a statement of facts within his opposition to the motion for summary judgment. As such, the facts alleged in defendants' Rule 56.1 statement must be deemed admitted. The incidents that predate this action are chronicled in the Complaint and in plaintiff's sworn deposition testimony. In September of 1996, plaintiff was transferred to a Parks Department site in Midland Beach on Staten Island. From that date until July 28, 1997, plaintiff appears to have worked without incident. In a performance evaluation dated July 26, 1997, plaintiff received an overall ranking of "very good," with rankings of "very good" in five categories and "extraordinary" in a sixth category. (Oliviera Decl.Exh. B) According to the form used to evaluate employees, the categories into which an employee could be classified were, in descending order: extraordinary, very good, good, conditional, unsatisfactory and unratable. Plaintiff claimed in his deposition that he should have received "excellents" for his work (McCoy Dep. 65), and that all Caucasian employees at his Parks Department work site received "excellent" rankings in all categories but "didn't deserve it." (Id. at 66) Against this backdrop, the discrimination charged in the Complaint is said to have begun on July 28, 1997 and continued until May 27, 1998.

1. July 28, 1997 attempted issuance of insubordination charges against co-worker Calluci

Plaintiff alleges that the first discriminatory incident involved his supervisors' refusal to support his attempt to levy disciplinary charges against one of the employees under his supervision. On July 28, 1997, plaintiff attempted to issue formal written charges for insubordination against Parks Department Employee Peter Calluci. Plaintiff alleges that his supervisor, defendant Vincent Cascella, instructed him to issue a verbal warning instead of a written charge. Plaintiff avers that he had already issued the employee several verbal warnings, and that because the employee had not complied with those verbal warnings, plaintiff decided to prepare a written charge anyway. He contends that he asked defendants Cascella, the Principal Park Supervisor, and Jerome Candrilli, plaintiff's direct supervisor, to witness his write-up of the insubordination charge, but that both refused to do so. Plaintiff was never disciplined as a result of this incident and his salary and benefits, or other material terms and conditions of his employment, were never affected.

2. January 16, 1998 discussion with defendant Scarpelli concerning defendants Candrilli and Cascella

Six months later, plaintiff again encountered trouble when he attempted to bring the behavior of his supervisors to the attention of a park chief. On January 16, 1998, plaintiff informed defendant George Scarpelli, Chief of Operations, that defendant Candrilli sat around and discussed ball games during work and that defendant Cascella drank beer during work. (Complaint ¶ 17; McCoy Dep. 74-75)

3. January 23, 1998 verbal altercation with defendant Candrilli

Shortly after plaintiff reported Candrilli and Cascella to Scarpelli, plaintiff and Candrilli had a dispute over time sheets that escalated into a verbal altercation. At this point, plaintiff apparently had begun to carry to work a tape recorder and a camera. (McCoy Dep. 135-137) According to an unofficial "transcript" of the altercation produced by plaintiff, the problem began when Candrilli stated to plaintiff: "I'm tired of you and your attitude. You got a problem. You and Vinny got a problem. You know what the problem is, you are a rat. You are a rat bastard." Plaintiff then told Candrilli, whose father had apparently recently passed away: "Why don't you grow up and stop crying. You're like little kids ... Go cry, go cry to daddy. That's all you do like little kids." Candrilli responded with the following: "Let me tell you something. If you mention my family, I will break your fucking neck, you cocksucker. You leave my fucking family out of it." (Pl.'s Exh. 4) Plaintiff does not dispute that race was never explicitly mentioned or even hinted at by Candrilli during this altercation. He further admits that Candrilli threatened his life because of the statements he made to Scarpelli and for no other reason of which he was aware. (McCoy Dep. 75)

4. January 24, 1998 transfer

One day after this verbal altercation, plaintiff was transferred to another Parks Department site in District 1, the Cromwell Center. Plaintiff testified at his deposition that this transfer was involuntary. (McCoy Dep. 85, 86) He also testified that after this transfer, his title, salary, job responsibilities and salary did not change. (Id. at 86, 87)

5. January 27, 1998 supervisory conference with defendant Candrilli

On January 27, 1998, plaintiff received a "Supervisor's Conference" with defendant Candrilli. According to Candrilli's notes of the meeting, plaintiff was disciplined for: "failure to communicate a change in assignment"; "failure to follow a direct order"; "conduct unbecoming a City employee"; "neglecting assigned duties"; "failure to obey the lawful order of a superior in the agency"; and "engaging in conduct that is prejudicial to good order and discipline." (Oliviera Decl., Exh. E) Plaintiff contends in the Complaint that this disciplinary measure, which remained in his personnel folder, was highly pretextual and that each of the charges listed were fabricated, unfair and highly discriminatory. (Comp. ¶ 21) Yet, plaintiff admitted in his deposition that the only reason he believes he received the supervisory conference was in retaliation for the statements he had made on January 16, 1998 to Scarpelli concerning Candrilli and Cascella and that he could think of no other reason for the conference. (McCoy Dep. 78-80)

6. January 28 and 29, 1998 denial of access to Forestry Department bathroom

The Complaint alleges that on January 28 and 29, 1998, plaintiff and his mostly African American crew were denied use of a bathroom in the Forestry Department facility in Staten Island which apparently was reserved for Forestry Department employees. In his deposition, plaintiff clarifies that his crew was composed of four African Americans and one Caucasian worker and that while crew members were forced to use another bathroom, Forestry Department employees, all of whom were Caucasian, were permitted to use both bathrooms. (Comp. ¶ 28) Plaintiff admits that regardless of their race, all WEP workers were denied use of the bathroom in question. However, he suggests that the categorical exclusion of WEP workers by the Forestry Department was linked to race when he testifies that this policy was "very offensive to [him], especially since there was no minorities working in that department." (McCoy Dep. 130) Plaintiff claims that WEP workers may have been denied the use of this bathroom because Forestry Department employees on Staten Island felt threatened by the WEP workers. (McCoy Dep. 159-160) According to defendants, plaintiff's crew members eventually were permitted to use the bathroom, but only because plaintiff informed the Forestry Department employee that he was a crew chief supervisor. (Defs.' Rule 56.1 Statement ¶ 29, citing McCoy Dep., 116-117)

7. January 30, 1998 order and threat

On January 30, 1998, plaintiff claims that he was ordered not to go to the sites where defendants Candrilli and Cascella worked unless accompanied by another supervisor (Comp. ¶ 24) or unless he obtained "prior approval" (Pl.'s Mem. in Opp'n, 8), whereas Candrilli and Cascella were not similarly ordered. Apparently that same day, plaintiff claims that defendant Scarpelli threatened that if plaintiff continued to complain about conditions at work, he "would be jeopardizing" his summer step-up position as Park Supervisor. (McCoy Dep. 100)

8. February 7, 1998 evaluation

On February 7, 1998, plaintiff received another performance evaluation in which his overall performance for the period of July 7, 1997 through December 31, 1997 was categorized as "good," one category below his previous evaluation. (Oliviera Decl., Exh. B) Plaintiff testified that he believed that...