Siaca v. Autoridad De Acueductos Y Alcantarillados

160 F.Supp.2d 188

Abraham Calderon SIACA, Plaintiff, v. AUTORIDAD DE ACUEDUCTOS Y ALCANTARILLADOS DE PUERTO RICO, et al., Defendants.

No. 00-2083(DRD).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

July 31, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Claudio Aliff-Ortiz, Aldarondo & Lopez Bras, Hato Rey, PR, Ayleen Charles, San Juan, PR, for defendant.

Nicolas Nogueras-Cartagena, San Juan, PR, for plaintiff.

OPINION AND ORDER

DOMINGUEZ, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is defendant Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados' ("AAA"), Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint filed, on November 16, 2000.¹ (Docket No. 8). Plaintiff opposed said motion on December 18, 2000. (Docket No. 12). Thereafter, defendant filed a Reply to Plaintiff's Opposition on February 26, 2001. (Docket No. 22). For the following reasons, defendant AAA's Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.²

I. MOTION TO DISMISS STANDARD

When deciding a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) the Court must accept as true all well-pleaded factual claims, and indulge all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Doyle v. Hasbro, Inc., 103 F.3d 186, 190 (1st Cir.1996); Aulson v. Blanchard, 83 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir.1996). Dismissal is appropriate only when the facts alleged, taken as true, do not justify under any theory of recovery for the plaintiff. Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Thus, in order to survive a motion to dismiss, plaintiffs must set forth "factual allegations, either direct or inferential, regarding each material element necessary to sustain recovery." Gooley v. Mobil Oil Corp., 851 F.2d 513, 515 (1st Cir.1988). Although all inferences must be made in the plaintiffs' favor, this Court need not accept "bald assertions, unsupportable conclusions, periphrastic circumlocutions, and the like." Aulson, 83 F.3d at 3.

Moreover, when considering a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), "our focus [must be] limited to the allegations of the complaint." Litton Indus., Inc. v. Colón, 587 F.2d 70, 74 (1st Cir.1978)(internal quotations omitted). Specifically, the inquiry should be "whether a liberal reading of [the complaint] can reasonably admit of a claim ...." Id. See also Doyle, 103 F.3d at 190. In Wagner v. Devine, 122 F.3d 53 (1st Cir.1997), the First Circuit held that a Court must "affirm a dismissal for failure to state a claim only if it clearly appears that, on the facts alleged, the plaintiff cannot recover on any viable theory." Id. at 55. The Supreme Court decades ago explained in Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957), that

"In appraising the sufficiency of the complaint we follow, of course, the accepted rule that a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief."

Id. at 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99. With the above stated standard in mind, all of the facts alleged in the complaint are accepted as true. See Dartmouth Review v. Dartmouth College, 889 F.2d 13, 16 (1st Cir. 1989); Gooley, 851 F.2d at 514.

II. DISCUSSION

In the amended complaint, plaintiff alleges that defendant AAA violated his rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq.; Titles I and V of the American with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12111 and 12203, et seq.; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. § 623(d), et seq.; 42 U.S.C. § 1983; First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and Puerto Rico anti-discrimination laws. Defendant avers plaintiff's amended complaint should be dismissed, because plaintiff has failed to plead sufficient facts to establish a cause of action under each of the aforementioned statutes and constitutional amendments. The Court will now address defendant's contentions.

A. Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies

The ADA, ADEA and Title VII mandate "compliance with the administrative procedures specified in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e." Bonilla v. Muebles J.J. Alvarez, Inc., 194 F.3d 275, 277 (1st Cir.1999). "[S]uch compliance must occur before a federal court may entertain a suit that seeks recovery for an alleged violation [under the ADA, ADEA and Title VII]." Id. In fact, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e), in pertinent part states that a charge shall be filed with the EEOC "within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred," or within three hundred days if "the person aggrieved has initially institutionalized proceedings with [an authorized] State or local agency" or "within thirty days after receiving notice that the State or local agency has terminated the proceedings with a State or local agency, whichever is earlier."

Defendant avers that plaintiff's claims under the ADEA and Title VII should be dismissed, because plaintiff failed to include the aforementioned causes of action in his EEOC charge. Defendant is correct. The purpose of filing an administrative claim for discrimination is to provide defendants with "prompt notice of claims and to create an opportunity for early conciliation." Lattimore v. Polaroid Corp., 99 F.3d 456, 464 (1st Cir.1996). Further,

"That purpose would be frustrated if the employee were permitted to allege one thing in the administrative charge and later allege something entirely different in a subsequent civil action. Consequently, we have stated that, in [cases involving discrimination], `the scope of the civil complaint is ... limited by the charge filed with the EEOC and the investigation which can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge.'"

Id. (citing Powers v. Grinnell Corp., 915 F.2d 34, 37 (1st Cir.1990)). See Sanchez v. Standard Brands, Inc., 431 F.2d 455, 466 (5th Cir.1970). Although compliance with administrative remedies is not a jurisdictional prerequisite, nevertheless, plaintiff may not circumvent the requirement. See Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 393, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982); Oscar Mayer & Co. v. Evans, 441 U.S. 750, 757, 99 S.Ct. 2066, 60 L.Ed.2d 609 (1979).

The ADEA and Title VII claims filed by plaintiff in the above captioned case against defendants were not included in the administrative claim filed with the EEOC or have been listed in the right to sue letter issued by the EEOC.³ Therefore, plaintiff's ADEA and Title VII claims against defendants must be DISMISSED for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.⁴

B. The ADA Claim

The ADA prohibits an employer to discriminate against a qualified individual covered under the Act on the basis of his/her disability. 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). Under the ADA, "no covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability ..." Ladenheim v. American Airlines, Inc. 115 F.Supp.2d 225, 228 (D.P.R.2000) (citing Criado v. IBM Corp., 145 F.3d 437, 441 (1st Cir.1998)). Further, pursuant to the ADA, "the term discriminate includes ... not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability ..., unless [the employer] can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of [the employer]." Id. (citing Higgins v. New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. 194 F.3d 252, 264 (1st Cir.1999)). Contrary to a claim of discrimination, a claim for failure to provide reasonable accommodation, as in this case, is not contingent on the framework set forth by the Supreme Court in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802-04, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). The reason is that said burden-shifting framework is "simply `inapposite in respect to such claims.'" Ladenheim, 115 F.Supp.2d at 228.

In a failure to accommodate claim, plaintiff has to "furnish significantly probative evidence that he is a qualified individual with a disability ..., that he works (or worked) for an employer whom the ADA covers; that the employer, despite knowing of the employee's physical or mental limitations, did not reasonably accommodate those limitations; and that the employer's failure to do so affected the terms, conditions, or privileges of the plaintiff's employment." Ladenheim, 115 F.Supp.2d at 228 (citing Higgins, 194 F.3d at 264). Unlike other interpretations of the word "discriminate," this interpretation does not require the employer's action be roused by a discriminatory animus directed at plaintiff's disability. Id. Hence, an employer who has knowledge of an employee's disability and fails to make reasonable accommodations violates the statute, irrespective of intent, unless the employer proves that the proposed accommodations constitute undue hardship. See 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(5)(A); see also Aka v. Washington Hosp. Ctr., 156 F.3d 1284, 1300 (D.C.Cir.1998) (en banc).

The Court, accepting as true all well-pleaded factual claims, and indulging all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor, finds that plaintiff has pleaded enough facts to establish a cause of action under the ADA. See Doyle, 103 F.3d at 190; Aulson, 83 F.3d at 3. First, defendants do not dispute that he is a qualified individual for purposes of the statute. Plaintiff asserts in the complaint that he is a "Certified Engineer" who has been working for defendant for the last thirteen years. (Docket No. 7).

Second, plaintiff has asserted that he has a "physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of [his] major life activities ..." Santiago Clemente v. Executive Airlines, Inc., 213 F.3d 25, 30 (1st Cir.2000). The EEOC has issued regulations to provide additional guidance regarding the proper interpretation of the term "major life activity." 29 CFR § 1630.2(g) (1998). The EEOC regulations define...