Offor v. Mercy Med. Ctr.

167 F.Supp.3d 414

Dr. Chinwe Offor, Plaintiff,

v.Mercy Medical Center, Rockville Centre Division, Catholic Health Services of Long Island, Dr. Swarna Devarajan, and Dr. John P Reilly, Defendants.

15-cv-2219 (ADS)(SIL)

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

Signed March 10, 2016

Ike Agwuegbo, Esq., Attorney for the Plaintiff, 575 Lexington Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022.

Nixon Peabody LLP, Attorneys for the Defendants, 50 Jericho Quadrangle, Suite 300, Jericho, NY 11753, By: Christopher G. Gegwich, Esq., Tony Garbis Dulgerian, Esq., Of Counsel.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION & ORDER

SPATT, District Judge

This case arises from allegations by the Plaintiff Dr. Chinwe Offor (the “Plaintiff”), who is an African American born in Nigeria, that she was discriminated against while working as a Neonatologist at Mercy Medical Center (“MMC”).

On April 20, 2015, the Plaintiff commenced this action against the Defendants MMC, Catholic Health Services of Long Island, Inc. (“CHSLI”), Dr. Swarna Devarajan, and Dr. John P. Reilly (collectively, the “Defendants”). She asserted the following causes of action: (i) national origin and race discrimination pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (“Section 1981 ”), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”), and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(1) ( “NYSHRL”); (ii) retaliation under Title VII; (iii) violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq. (“FMLA”); and (iv) “libel, slander, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

On May 15, 2015, the Plaintiff filed an amended complaint as a matter of course pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Fed. R. Civ.P.”) 15(a)(1)(A).

Presently before the Court is (i) a motion by the Defendants pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) to dismiss the amended complaint in its entirety; (ii) a cross-motion by the Plaintiff to amend her complaint for a second time pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2) ; (iii) a motion by the Defendants to seal certain documents attached to the original and first amended complaint; and (iv) cross-motions by the parties for sanctions.

For the reasons set forth below, the Court (i) grants the Defendants' motion to dismiss; (ii) denies the Plaintiff's motion to amend; and (iii) grants the Defendants' motion to seal. As the parties' filed cross motions for sanctions several months after filing the three above-motions, the Court reserves decision on the sanctions' motions for administrative reasons

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are drawn from the proposed second amended complaint (“SAC”) and construed in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff.

A. The Parties

The Plaintiff is a resident of Dix Hills and was employed by the Defendant MMC from February 1, 2000 until August 21, 2014, when MMC terminated her employment. (SAC at ¶ 1.) She was initially hired at MMC as an attending Neonatoligst in 2004. (Id. at ¶ 15.) Although not made explicit in the SAC, the allegations suggest her role as a Neonatoligst was to provide healthcare for newborn babies. In 2004, she was promoted to the title of Assistant Director of Neonatology at MMC. (Id. at ¶ 16.)

The Defendant MMC is a hospital located in Rockville Centre, New York. (Id. at ¶ 2.)

The Defendant CHSLI is a “parent institution” of MMC and is located in Long Island, New York. (Id. at ¶ 3.)

The Defendant Dr. Devarajan was the Chairwoman of Pediatrics and the Director of Neonatology & Newborn Services at MMC. (Id. at ¶ 4.) She was the Plaintiff's immediate supervisor during the entire period of the Plaintiff's employment at MMC. (See id. )

The Defendant Dr. Reilly is the Chief Medical Officer of MMC. (Id. at ¶ 5.) He also supervised the Plaintiff during the period of her employment at MMC. (See id. )

B. The Alleged Denial of Moonlighting Hours

The Plaintiff alleges that from 2006 to 2010, the Defendant Dr. Devarajan discriminated against her on the basis of her race and national origin because she denied the Plaintiff additional so-called “moonlighting” hours, which are night and weekend hours that doctors in MMC's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (“NICU”) work in addition to their regularly scheduled work hours and for which they receive additional compensation. She further alleges:

[E]xternal moonlighters (mostly and predominantly of Indian Descent) never had any issues with Dr. Devarajan regarding availability of moonlighting hours. In fact, Dr. Devarajan usually offered these Doctors more hours than they could handle. In one email, whilst thanking one of the Moonlighters for helping her son ‘Alex’ with a job ..., Dr. Devarajan offered him as many moonlighting hours as he could handle.

(SAC at ¶ 22.)

In support of this allegation, the Plaintiff attached to the proposed SAC, an August 29, 2011 email she sent to Nancy Simmons (“Simmons”), an Executive Vice President at MMC. (See SAC, Ex. 3(A), Dkt. No. 22–9, at 21.) In the email, the Plaintiff summarizes a meeting she had with the Defendants Dr. Reilly and Dr. Devarajan on August 25, 2011 to request additional moonlighting hours. (Id. ) According to her email, at the meeting, Dr. Devarajan was “worried about [the Plaintiff] becoming stressed with additional work, and that such onset of stress will diminish the quality of [her] work.” (Id. ) Dr. Devarajan also allegedly expressed concern that authorizing the Plaintiff to work additional hours would render Dr. Devarajan “unable to balance the Budget for Pediatrics/NICU.” (Id. at 22.)

In her August 25, 2011 email, the Plaintiff also wrote that there are “five moonlighters working regularly in the NICU”: (i) “3 Indians—Drs. Souza, Shah, & Srinivasan”; (ii) “1 Russian—Dr. Dolmain”; and (iii) “1 Filipino—Dr. Pakdi.” (Id. at 21–22.) The Plaintiff further wrote:

Dr. Deverajan acknowledged the fact that I am as or probably more clinically competent than my peers. I have superior procedural skills (intubations, placement of central lines), and I'm more knowledgeable about the babies and parents than our moonlighters. At this point, the only reasonable conclusion that I can make is that I am being denied these moonlighting hours because I AM BLACK.

(Id. at 22.)

She further noted:

[t]his is not the only occasion [Dr. Devarajan] has discriminated against me. Amongst other tactics, she once had the bed in my office removed with no just cause. Of note is the fact that Dr. Dejhalla's bed was left intact in her office. That situation was resolved by Dr. Reilly.

(Id. at 22.)

However, ultimately, according to the SAC, the Plaintiff's bed was returned to her office after she complained to the MMC administration. (SAC at ¶ 72.)

C. The Alleged Denial of Vacation Time

The Plaintiff also alleges that Dr. Devarajan sought to improperly “prevent [the Plaintiff] from using her hard earned vacation time, culminating in her constant loss of benefit time.” (Id. at ¶ 23.) According to the SAC, “in 2010, [Dr. Devarajan] denied [the Plaintiff's] vacation request despite a 7 month notice, only to turn around and approve another neonatologist, Dr. Dejhalla's vacation request made with less than 2[sic] month's notice.” (Id. ) Allegedly, “[n]o one else in the ... NICU had problems with getting vacation time approved by Dr. Dejhalla even with a much shorter notice. Dr. Dejhalla and more recently Dr. Rayjada (hired in 2011) never had any problems with having vacation days approved.” (Id. at ¶ 25.)

In July 2012, Dr. Devarajan again “denied [the Plaintiff's] earlier request for vacation days to visit her son in China.” (Id. at ¶ 28.)

In August 2012, Dr. Devarajan denied the Plaintiff's third request to use her vacation time “to be with her daughter who was expecting a baby and was having health problems.” (Id. at ¶ 29.) According to the SAC, the Plaintiff informed Allison Cianciotto (“Cianciotto”), Vice President of Human Resources at MMC, that Dr. Devarajan's “refusal to allow her to use her accumulated vacation/benefit time was a discriminatory action against her intended to force her to leave her Employment with the Defendants and that this conduct was continuing against her unchecked because of her Race[.]” (Id. )

On August 23, 2012, the Plaintiff allegedly made a “verbal threat to retain an Attorney.” (Id. at ¶ 30.) Subsequently on August 24, 2012, the Plaintiff had a meeting with Cianciatto, Dr. Reilly, and Dr. Rosemary Povinelli. (Id. ) At the meeting, Dr. Reilly allegedly informed the Plaintiff that “there was an Anonymous Complaint against her alleging that she does not wash her hands before handling patients and did not know how to manage ventilators.” (Id. )

In addition, the Plaintiff attaches to the SAC a September 25, 2012 email from Cianciotto to the Plaintiff stating:

As discussed, due to staffing concerns in your department for the period of time you requested off in December, your vacation cannot be granted. As you are aware, Dr. Rayjada is due on December 20th and could possibly be put out earlier. Unfortunately, you are in a [department] of 3, including the Chairwoman. Patient safety must be our first priority. Thank you.

(SAC, Ex. 7A, Dkt. No. 22–13, at 3.)

In November 2012, the Plaintiff engaged Joel Greenberg, Esq. (“Greenberg”) to “assist her in persuading the Defendants to allow her [to] use her vacation time and also ensure that she g[ot] moonlighting hours.” (SAC at ¶ 32.)

Subsequently, on December 27, 2012, Dr. Reilly, Dr. Devarajan, and Dr. Povinelli met with the Plaintiff to inform her of their decision to place her on “Focused Practitioner Performance Review” (“FPPR”) for three months in light of concerns they had with her management of three patients in the NICU in 2009, 2011, and 2012. (Id. at ¶ 33; see also SAC, Ex. 8F, Dkt. No. 22–13, at 24–25.) The SAC describes FPPR as a probationary period during which a doctor is “expected to work under close supervision and is subject to frequent evaluation.” (SAC at ¶ 58.) The Plaintiff alleges that MMC's decision to place her on FFPR was in retaliation for retaining Greenberg. (SAC...