Johnstone v. Village of Monticello
691 F. App'x 657
| 2d Cir. | 2017Background
- Mark Johnstone, a white Monticello police lieutenant since 2010 (officer since 1989), was allegedly subjected to racial epithets by Gordon Jenkins during Jenkins’s DUI arrest and processing on Nov. 16, 2013.
- Jenkins, described as dark-skinned and at the time the mayor of Monticello, allegedly called Johnstone and other white officers names (e.g., “racist,” “cracker,” “KKK,” “Nazi”) and directed racial epithets at an African American officer.
- Johnstone sued Jenkins and the Village under Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Equal Protection), alleging a hostile work environment caused by Jenkins’s comments.
- The district court (magistrate judge with consent under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c)) dismissed the second amended complaint under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c).
- The Second Circuit reviewed the Rule 12(c) dismissal de novo, accepted allegations as true, and affirmed dismissal, holding the single incident by an intoxicated arrestee did not create an actionable hostile work environment.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether Jenkins’s comments created a hostile work environment under Title VII | Johnstone: Jenkins’s racially charged insults toward white officers during processing amounted to severe or pervasive harassment altering employment conditions | Defendants: The incident was an isolated tirade by an intoxicated arrestee, not conduct by an employer or co-worker that altered employment conditions | Court: Dismissed — single incident by an intoxicated citizen did not meet severity/pervasiveness threshold for hostile work environment |
| Whether § 1983 Equal Protection claim is viable for hostile work environment | Johnstone: Same underlying facts support an Equal Protection hostile-environment claim under § 1983 | Defendants: § 1983 claim fails for same reasons as Title VII claim; conduct not imputable to employer | Court: Dismissed — § 1983 claim fails under same standard applied to Title VII |
Key Cases Cited
- Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17 (1993) (Title VII prohibits working in a discriminatorily hostile or abusive environment)
- Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc., 523 U.S. 75 (1998) (context and social setting inform whether conduct is actionable harassment)
- Feingold v. New York, 366 F.3d 138 (2d Cir. 2004) (public employees may bring hostile-work-environment claims under § 1983 applying same standard as Title VII)
- Alfano v. Costello, 294 F.3d 365 (2d Cir. 2002) (elements and standards for hostile work environment: severity/pervasiveness and employer imputability)
- L-7 Designs, Inc. v. Old Navy, LLC, 647 F.3d 419 (2d Cir. 2011) (de novo review standard for Rule 12(c) motion)