Eyohka TARTA, Plaintiff, v. NATION CARE, INC., et al., Defendants.
Civil Action No. 11-01552 (BAH).
United States District Court, District of Columbia.
June 5, 2012.
861 F. Supp. 2d 173
BERYL A. HOWELL, District Judge.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Omar Vincent Melehy, Melehy & Associates LLC, Silver Spring, MD, for Defendants.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
BERYL A. HOWELL, District Judge.
Plaintiff Eyohka Tarta brought suit against defendants Pius Fon and Nation Care, Inc. (collectively, “defendants“) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended,
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
The plaintiff Tarta was formerly employed for approximately six months as a certified home health aide by defendant NCI, which is allegedly owned by defendant Fon. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 11, 16, 36.3
The plaintiff alleges that defendant Fon sexually harassed her beginning from the time defendant Fon interviewed her for the job and continuing throughout her employment. Id. ¶¶ 14-36. Specifically, the plaintiff alleges that defendant Fon “upon meeting her, immediately began asking her personal questions and making sexual and or romantic comments to her, including telling her that she was ‘sexy,’ and asking her out on a date.” Id. ¶ 14. Despite this initial interaction, the plaintiff “[r]eluctantly ... accepted a position with [NCI] in or about March or April of 2010.” Id. ¶ 16.
Following the plaintiff‘s training by NCI, she was allegedly the only “new hire” who was not assigned a home health care case. Id. ¶ 18. If home aides are not assigned cases, they do not make hourly wages. Id. ¶ 19. When the plaintiff queried defendant Fon about why she was not assigned a case, he allegedly responded “I don‘t really want to give you a case, I want to date you.” Id. ¶ 18. On one occasion, defendant Fon responded to the plaintiff‘s complaint about not being assigned a case by requesting that the plaintiff meet him in the office after hours. Id. ¶ 20. According to the plaintiff, defendant Fon chose this time “so that he could make sexual advances ... while the offices were empty.” Id. ¶ 21. During the meeting, defendant Fon asked the plaintiff to “sit on my lap” and asked “what‘s wrong with that?” Id. ¶ 22. The plaintiff alleges that defendant Fon then “turned down the lights in the office, approached [the plaintiff], pressed his body against hers, and attempted to lift her body up off the ground.” Id. ¶ 23. The plaintiff told de-
When the plaintiff had not been assigned a new case after approximately two weeks in her new position, she contacted defendant NCI, and employees directed her to speak with defendant Fon. Id. ¶¶ 25-26. Defendant Fon requested that the plaintiff meet him at a hotel, the “Econolodge.” Id. ¶ 27. The plaintiff “initially refused, but relented when defendant Fon promised to give her an assignment.” Id. ¶ 28. At the hotel, defendant Fon “offered her alcohol, despite the fact that he knew that she was under the age of twenty-one” and asked her “to sit on the bed, and touched her breasts repeatedly, stating that ‘you‘re lucky to have such nice breasts.‘” Id. ¶¶ 29-30. The plaintiff then fled the hotel. Id. ¶ 31.
The plaintiff “eventually received a case assignment by demanding one repeatedly from office staff.” Id. ¶ 34. The plaintiff alleges, however, that the “[d]efendants withheld wages from [the plaintiff], in violation of law, in retaliation for her refusal to enter a sexual relationship with [d]efendant Fon.” Id. ¶ 35. The plaintiff alleges that she was then “terminated, actually and or constructively, by [d]efendants, in or about August of 2010.” Id. ¶ 36.
On November 20, 2010, the plaintiff filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC“). Id. ¶ 37; Original Compl. Att. 1 (Charge of Discrimination Filed with EEOC). On May 31, 2011, the EEOC issued to the plaintiff a Notice of Right to Sue. Am. Compl. ¶ 38; id. Att. 1 (EEOC Notice of Right to Sue).
On August 29, 2011, within the 90 days the plaintiff had to file a lawsuit under Title VII after receiving her Right to Sue Letter, the plaintiff filed a pro se complaint against Pius Fon, alleging that defendant Fon discriminated against her on the basis of sex, in violation of Title VII, by “subjecting [her] to severe and pervasive unwelcome sexual advances—unwelcome physical touching, propositions for sex, and sexual comments, as a condition for offering [her] employment, and requesting sexual favors as a condition for continuing employment with his company.” Original Compl. at 1. The Original Complaint did not name NCI as a party to the action. In response, defendant Fon filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint, arguing that the plaintiff‘s claims must be dismissed under
On December 12, 2011, the plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint designating both Pius Fon and NCI as defendants. Am. Compl. Based upon the factual allegations described above, the plaintiff alleges that defendant NCI violated Title VII through a hostile work environment and sex discrimination (Count I) and retaliation (Count II); and defendant Fon committed battery “in or about April or May of 2010” (Count III) and “in the summer of 2010” (Count IV). Id. ¶¶ 39-59.
On December 21, 2011, the defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the plaintiff‘s
II. LEGAL STANDARD
On a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, under
In evaluating whether a complaint sufficiently states a claim for relief to withstand a motion to dismiss under
III. DISCUSSION
The defendants argue that this case should be dismissed because (1) the 90-day limitations period to file a suit under Title VII upon receipt of an EEOC Right to Sue letter had run before the plaintiff filed her Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint and before the defendant NCI received the notice required by the “relation back” test, see Defs.’ Mem. at 1, and (2) the Court does not have supplemental jurisdiction to hear the state-law claims of battery upon dismissal of the Title VII claims. Id. at 1. The Court will address these claims seriatim below.
A. Plaintiff‘s Amended Claims Are Not Barred
In order to bring a civil action under Title VII, “the plaintiff must file [a] complaint ‘within 90 days of receipt of the final action on an individual or class complaint if no appeal has been filed.‘” Smith, 806 F.Supp.2d at 62 (quoting
The Court finds that the plaintiff‘s Amended Complaint against NCI meets all three requirements of
Second, defendant NCI received notice of the Amended Complaint within the
Given the clear notice given to defendant NCI within the
Defendant NCI‘s argument is predicated upon an incorrect reading of
B. Plaintiff‘s State-Law Claims of Battery Are Not Subject to Dismissal
The plaintiff‘s Title VII claims are properly before this Court and therefore juris-
IV. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the Amended Complaint against the newly named defendant NCI relates back under
Notes
In this case, the Court (Kennedy, J.) stayed discovery pending PBGC‘s completion of a new plan asset evaluation of the terminated U.S. Airways pension plans (including the Plan), thereby extending discovery 60 days beyond the date on which PBGC serves a copy of the completed asset evaluation on Plaintiffs. See Minute Order dated August 11, 2011. In US Airlines Pilots Ass‘n v. Pension Benefit Guar. Corp., the Court issued an Order on April 23, 2012, requiring PBGC to file monthly status reports regarding the progress of the plan asset evaluation and informed the parties that “[t]he Court [would] closely monitor the progress of the plan asset evaluation and expect[ed] [PBGC] to complete the same and to present its findings and conclusions no later than September 30, 2012....” See U.S. Airlines Pilots Ass‘n v. Pension Benefit Guar. Corp., 09-CV-1675, Dkt. No. 81 at 1-2.
