Saborit v. Harlem Hospital Center Auxiliary, Inc.

ABEL SABORIT, JR., Plaintiff, v. HARLEM HOSPTIAL CENTER AUXILIARY, INC., NEW YORK CITY HEALTH AND HOSPITALS CORPORATION, and KEESHA NEDD, Defendants.

No. 19-cv-4686 (LJL)

United States District Court, S.D. New York

July 1, 2021

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

LEWIS J. LIMAN, United States District Judge:

Plaintiff Abel Saborit, Jr. (“Plaintiff” or “Saborit”) brings this action against Harlem Hospital Center Auxiliary (“Harlem Hospital”) New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (“NYCHHC”), and Kesha Nedd (“Nedd, ” and collectively, “Defendants”) to allege that they discriminated and retaliated against him during his employment at Harlem Hospital and when they terminated him in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C § 12101 et seq. (the “ADA”), the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”), and the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”).

Pursuant to the agreement of the parties, the Court held a bench trial from June 1, 2021 to June 3, 2021. Eight witnesses testified either in person or, pursuant to the agreement of the parties, remotely. Those witnesses and the subjects as to which they offered testimony were (in order in which they testified): (1) Plaintiff Saborit, who testified regarding his experiences at Harlem Hospital and the termination of his employment from Harlem Hospital; (2) Plaintiff's sister Katharine Saborit-Rodriguez (“Saborit-Rodriguez”), who spoke with her brother every day or every other day and who testified regarding certain prior consistent statements allegedly made by Plaintiff and to the impact of the termination of employment on Plaintiff; (3) Greycy Rodriguez (“Rodriguez”) Plaintiff's former co-worker from Fresh Direct, who testified regarding the Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) office at that prior employment and to certain events after Plaintiff's employment was terminated from Harlem Hospital; (4) Marcia Foster (“Foster”), Plaintiff's subordinate in the compliance department at Harlem Hospital, who testified to Plaintiff's performance at Harlem Hospital and his supervision of the compliance department; (5) Marisol Rico (“Rico”), another co-worker at Harlem Hospital, who also testified to Plaintiff's supervision of the compliance department and his performance at Harlem Hospital; (6) Keesha Nedd (“Nedd”), one of the Defendants, who testified to Plaintiff's performance at Harlem Hospital and the reasons she terminated his employment; (7) Sandra Grimes-Davis (“Grimes-Davis”), a human resources business partner at Harlem Hospital, who reported to Plaintiff for a time and who conducted the new employee orientation for him, who also testified to Plaintiff's performance at Harlem Hospital; and (8) Dwayne Davis (“Davis”), a human resources business partner who also reported to Plaintiff for a time and who testified to complaints that he made to Nedd about Plaintiff's performance at Harlem Hospital. In addition, Plaintiff was recalled to testify in his rebuttal case.

This opinion constitutes the Court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52. For the following reasons, the Court finds that Plaintiff has failed to establish liability on all claims.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

Plaintiff Saborit is a native of Miami, Florida. He received a Master's degree in Human Resources and Development from Barry University in 2006 and a Master's degree in Business Administration (“MBA”) from the University of Miami with an emphasis on healthcare administration in 2012.

A. Plaintiff's Job Description and Orientation

On November 1, 2018, Plaintiff was hired by Defendants in the position of assistant personnel director in the human resources and operations department at Harlem Hospital, with a start date of November 5, 2018 and a salary of $85, 000 a year plus benefits. See PX1. Prior to working at Harlem Hospital, he had almost 14 years of experience working in human resources and labor management.

Plaintiff worked as a human resources tech from 2004 to 2005, as a recruiter at Andryx Corporation from 2005 to 2006, as a human resources manager at Home Depot from 2006 to 2008, as a regional human resources business partner at Molina Healthcare from 2008 to 2012, and as a human resources manager at LSH Sky Chefs from 2012 to 2013. He moved to New York in 2014 when he was hired as an employee and labor relations manager at Perrigo Pharmaceuticals. He then worked as a senior human resources business partner at Fresh Direct from 2015 to 2017, and thereafter as a human resource director and insurance director at Consolidated Bus Company until August 2018.

The job at Harlem Hospital was a promotion with more responsibility than Plaintiff had been given at his prior jobs. Plaintiff was to be a deputy to the human resources director, Nedd, and second in command in the human resources department at Harlem Hosptial. Nedd is also a human resource professional with approximately 20 years of experience. She has a bachelor's degree in business management with a concentration in human resources and an MBA from NY U.She began working at Harlem Hospital in 2013 as a lean facilitator and then moved into operations. She was hired as human resource director at Harlem Hospital in March 2018. In that capacity, she managed a team of approximately 15 employees and was responsible for recruitment and employment, compliance and records, management, and wage and salary.

Upon commencement of his employment, Plaintiff was to have five direct reports. He was tasked with supervising Foster, Rico, and another employee, Delrose Thompson (“Thompson”) in their capacity as members of the compliance department. However, he did not directly supervise or manage them until January 2019. Trial Tr. at 187-89, 311, 345. He also supervised Davis and Grimes-Davis who served as human resources business partners. In or about January 2019, however, Nedd made the decision to direct Davis and Grimes-Davis, who had previously reported to Plaintiff, to instead report to her. See, e.g., id. at 54.

Harlem Hospital has at least two buildings, the Women's Pavillion and the Martin Luther King building. Nedd split her time between the buildings. Id. at 140, 172, 384. Plaintiff initially was seated on the 6th floor of the Women's Pavilion building in an office suite with Nedd. Nedd had an interior office and Plaintiff had a desk directly outside of her office near a door to the hallway that remained open during office hours. There was a bathroom just outside Nedd's office. There were five other bathrooms on the floor. The compliance department was located in an office suite down the long hall from where Nedd's office was located. There was a single person bathroom in the compliance department office suite. There was also a bathroom on the corridor of the 6th floor that had a code. After several months on the job, for reasons to be explained, Plaintiff's workspace was moved down the hall to the area in which the compliance department met.

Upon the commencement of his job, Nedd asked Plaintiff to familiarize himself with the organization and its policies and procedures, including the employee resource center on Harlem Hospital's intranet page. On November 26 and 27, 2018, Plaintiff attended and completed a new employee orientation with “information specific to NYC Health + Hospitals / Harlem.” PX16. The orientation was attended by approximately 10 to 15 employees, Trial Tr. at 492, and, based on the agenda, covered topics ranging from pastoral care, infection control, and HIPAA regulations to security awareness, patient safety and rights and responsibilities, emergency preparedness, cultural competency, workplace violence, and benefits, see PX16. The parties disagree as to whether topics or subjects were covered that were not on the agenda and specifically whether the name and contact number of Harlem Hospital's EEO officer, Nicole Phillips (“Phillips”), was provided. Plaintiff testified at trial that there were no speakers or topics covered that were not included on the agenda and that Phillips did not present at the orientation. Defendants presented evidence that Davis and Grimes-Davis presented at the orientation and, as was the routine practice, at least shared a slide with Phillips' name and contact number, as well as with her EEO responsibilities.

At the conclusion of the new employee orientation, Plaintiff signed a certificate of completion. See DXB. The certificate contained an acknowledgment by Plaintiff that he attended and completed the new employee orientation. Plaintiff also attested that he received information that was listed on the certificate of completion, including the “New Employee Orientation Self Study, ” “EEO Policy Statements, ” and the “Personal Telephone Usage Policy, ” and that it was his responsibility to “comply with all instructions.” Id. Plaintiff testified that he signed the document based on the instructions of one of the employees in human resources and because he was told that he needed to complete it in order to be paid.

During the orientation, Grimes-Davis observed Plaintiff using his cellphone in violation of Harlem Hospital's telephone policy. Grimes-Davis, who was helping to organize the orientation, told Plaintiff that he should not use his cellphone but was met with the response that there was an online “sale” that Plaintiff could not miss. Trial Tr. at 489. She reported the incident, which was concerning to her, to Davis who, in turn, reported it to Nedd.

B. Plaintiff's Job Responsibilities

Approximately one month into Plaintiff's employment, on December 7 2018, Nedd met with Plaintiff and formally presented Plaintiff with a functional job description as required by Harlem Hospital's policies and procedures. Nedd confirmed to Plaintiff...