Reyes v. Westchester Cnty. Health Care Corp.

YACAIRA REYES, Plaintiff, v. WESTCHESTER COUNTY HEALTH CARE CORPORATION d/b/aWESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER, et al., Defendants.

19-CV-08916 (PMH)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

January 29, 2021

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

PHILIP M. HALPERN, United States District Judge:

Plaintiff Yacaira Reyes ("Plaintiff") brings this employment discrimination action against her employer and supervisors, Westchester County Health Care Corporation d/b/a Westchester Medical Center ("WMC"), Kristina Schrull-Valiente ("Schrull-Valiente"), Lisa Panton ("Panton"), and Tim Murphy ("Murphy," and collectively, "Defendants"). Plaintiff brings nine claims for relief, spread equally across three statutory regimes, against one or more Defendants. Specifically, Plaintiff asserts three claims for relief each—one for discrimination, one for hostile work environment, and one for retaliation—under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000 et seq., the New York State Human Rights Law ("NYSHRL"), N.Y. Exec. Law § 296 et seq., and the New York City Human Rights Law ("NYCHRL"), New York City Admin. Code § 8-101 et seq.

Plaintiff filed this action on September 25, 2019. (Doc. 1, "Compl."). Defendants moved to dismiss the Complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) on March 6, 2020. (Doc. 28; Doc. 29, "Def. Br."). Plaintiff opposed the motion (Doc. 32, "Opp. Br."), and it was briefed fully with the filing of Defendants' reply on August 3, 2020 (Doc. 31, "Reply").¹

For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, a female "of Dominican Republic descent," had been a respiratory therapist for over a decade before joining the staff at WMC as one in 2011. (Compl. ¶¶ 9-10, 16-17). During her tenure, she performed the duties associated with "her job diligently and adequately," and was "never" subjected to disciplinary proceedings. (Id. ¶ 18). The allegations underpinning this action and its dual theories of pregnancy and national origin discrimination are outlined below.

I. Incident Occurring in 2016

On July 19, 2016, toward the end of an overnight shift that Plaintiff had worked nonstop, she was "rushed to the hospital with severe inflammation of her stomach and was diagnosed with diverticulitis. The doctors informed Plaintiff that the damage[] was irreversible and . . . caused by stress and going long periods of time without food." (Id. ¶ 20).

II. Incidents Occurring in 2017

On March 1, 2017, Plaintiff suffered a miscarriage; she maintains that the loss was caused by "Defendants' continuing and pervasive abuse, discrimination, and hostile work environment." (Id. ¶¶ 72-73). On August 28, 2017, Plaintiff informed one of her supervisors, Murphy, that she was pregnant. (Id. ¶ 21). Approximately one week later, on September 7, 2017—notwithstanding that Plaintiff had spent her entire WMC career working the nightshift—Plaintiff learned that she had been reassigned to the dayshift. (Id. ¶ 23). Plaintiff complained to an unspecified supervisor that, according her physician, sudden changes to Plaintiff's schedule could be "damaging to herself and her pregnancy," due to the fact that "her pregnancy was considered high risk." (Id. ¶¶ 24, 26). Indeed, no "other similarly situated therapists" working the nightshift were "switched into the day shift during their pregnancies." (Id. ¶ 25). Plaintiff informed her union representative of the shiftchange the day that Plaintiff herself became aware of it and, on September 15, 2017, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB"). (Id. ¶¶ 27-28).

Roughly two weeks after filing the NLRB proceeding, on September 27, 2017, an unidentified nurse asked Plaintiff to perform "an assessment of a patient." (Id. ¶ 31). During that evaluation, Plaintiff observed "that the patient's saturation was low because of a heavy chair that was blocking the machine." (Id.). Plaintiff "asked help moving the chair because she was pregnant. No help was provided, and Plaintiff had to move the chair by herself." (Id.). A little more than one week later, on October 5, 2017, Plaintiff spoke with an individual named Paoloa Gomez ("Gomez") "regarding several complaints that Plaintiff had made regarding the way she was treated while at work" and was advised that "Defendants" were aware of the unspecified complaints. (Id. ¶ 32).

During her shift on October 6, 2017, as "Plaintiff began administering care to one patient" in the pediatric ICU, two other "emergencies started as well." (Id. ¶ 33). Plaintiff asked a manager, Crissy Young ("Young"), to call other respiratory therapists for backup; Young, aware that Plaintiff was pregnant, responded by speculating "disdainfully whether or not [Plaintiff] would be able to handle children." (Id. ¶¶ 34-36). Sometime that same day, Plaintiff "suggested to a nurse that they fix a patient's position in bed," and that unidentified nurse told her to "shut-up and make the change." (Id. ¶ 37). Plaintiff contacted Schrull-Valiente about that interaction, and the latter wondered aloud, "Why you[,] Yacaira? I have been in this place 17 years and no one has told me to shut up." (Id.). By the time Schrull-Valiente arrived to view the patient in question, "there was nothing wrong;" Plaintiff asked why Schrull-Valiente waited so long to respond, and the latter "yell[ed] at Plaintiff and ridicule[d] her" explaining that she not "a mind reader" and did not respond faster because Plaintiff had not asked her to do so. (Id.).

Later that month, on October 27, 2017, Plaintiff was provided a copy of the work schedule for November 2017 and learned that she had not been granted the days off that she requested. (Id. ¶ 38). Plaintiff contacted the employee "in charge of scheduling" and explained that the November schedule "conflicted with her doctor's appointments;" the response from that unidentified employee was that Schrull-Valiente had "made Plaintiff's schedule and 'I think you know why.'" (Id.). Plaintiff contacted Schrull-Valiente about the November schedule the following day and the latter assured Plaintiff that "she would do what she could but upon information and belief, made no attempt to resolve Plaintiff's scheduling issues." (Id. ¶ 39).

Exactly two weeks later, on November 10, 2017, Plaintiff was working "in the CTAT Lab" and "the CT scan room," areas which Plaintiff maintains are dangerous for pregnant women. (Id. ¶ 41). Schrull-Valiente and John Cornell ("Cornell"), another supervisor, advised Plaintiff "that as long as she wore a protective vest, she could" perform her duties in the CTAT Lab and CT scan room. (Id. ¶ 42). Plaintiff protested, insisting that an unidentified "attendant" instructed her to leave because she was pregnant; nevertheless, "despite the attendant's concern," Cornell directed Plaintiff to "remain in the room" with her patient. (Id. ¶¶ 42-43).

III. Incidents Occurring in 2018

On January 26, 2018, Plaintiff received a negative performance evaluation from Cornell, which, in turn, "resulted in the denial of a merit-based increase" to which Plaintiff would otherwise have been entitled. (Id. ¶ 66). Cornell, however, was the dayshift manager and, at that time, "[u]pon information and belief, Plaintiff was working" the nightshift at the time the evaluation was issued. (Id. ¶ 67). Plaintiff maintains that "this negative performance evaluation was solely based upon the arbitration decision of September 19, 2017² which had determined that Defendants violatedthe [Collective Bargaining Agreement ("CBA")] by making drastic changes to Plaintiff's schedule." (Id. ¶ 68).

From March 9, 2018 through March 12, 2018, Plaintiff was forced to move "heavy tanks" despite the fact that she was pregnant. (Id. ¶ 44). These tanks stood approximately five feet tall, weighed approximately one hundred pounds, and had to be moved "over a thick carpet, every two hours for each" ICU patient to whom Plaintiff was assigned. (Id. ¶¶ 45-46). Plaintiff complained that her pregnancy prevented her from moving the tanks on her own; her supervisor, Panton, responded, "[B]ecause you're pregnant, you can't do your job?" (Id. ¶¶ 47, 49). Plaintiff took ill on March 12, 2018, and, on March 15, 2018, gave birth prematurely. (Id. ¶¶ 51, 53).

Although Plaintiff does not allege when she began her maternity leave, she asserts that it ended when she returned to work at WMC on October 2, 2018 and was asked to undergo "re-orientation training." (Id. ¶ 54). According to Plaintiff, such training is only required when an employee returns from a leave lasting more than one year; indeed, at least four other women who had taken maternity leave shorter than one year were not required to participate in re-orientation training. (Id. ¶¶ 55, 58-59). Despite the fact that Plaintiff had been on "on leave for approximately [six] months," Defendants forced her to attend the "training in order to discriminate [against] and ridicule her" and invite coworkers' speculation that Plaintiff lacked the necessary "skills and abilities." (Id. ¶¶ 55, 56-57). Upon her return, "Defendants" mocked Plaintiff's accent and, on October 6, 2018, Murphy told Plaintiff "that he couldn't understand her and that she was difficult to understand because of her accent," something Murphy had not done in the six years they worked together up to that point. (Id. ¶¶ 61-62). Toward the end of the month, on October 20, 2018, Plaintiff was "floated" to a different unit when Panton reassigned Plaintiff "at the very last minute" while other therapists had "steady" assignments. (Id. ¶¶ 69-71).

The final identifiable incident from 2018 occurred during Plaintiff's lunchbreak on November 18, 2018 when, while conversing in Spanish on her mobile phone, another respiratory therapist interrupted her and "told Plaintiff to take her call outside." (Id. ¶ 65). Plaintiff alleges also that, at some point, she complained to "Human Resources" about unspecified "racist...