Jensen v. College Town Pizza, Inc.

Background

Connor Jensen, who represented himself, sued College Town Pizza, Inc., his former employer, under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The opinion states that College Town did business as a Domino’s Pizza store in New Hope, Minnesota, where Jensen worked as a delivery driver from approximately 2019 through May 2021. Jensen alleged that he is Native American and that he experienced discrimination based on race and national origin.

Jensen described several workplace incidents over about nineteen months. They included conflicts with a coworker, a reduction in his weekly hours after he complained to human resources, a manager’s failure to follow a separation instruction, a manager calling him a “smart*ss,” a manager’s failure to report a customer’s death threat to law enforcement, and a manager’s threat to fire him and report that he harassed women if he refused a weekend closing shift. Jensen quit after that call and alleged that he had been targeted and forced to quit because of discrimination.

Rule 12(b)(6) standard

College Town moved to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which allows dismissal when a complaint does not state a legally recognized claim supported by enough facts to make liability plausible. The court considered the complaint’s factual allegations and drew reasonable inferences in Jensen’s favor, but it did not accept unsupported legal conclusions as facts.

National-origin discrimination

The court held that Section 1981 does not authorize discrimination claims based on national origin. It therefore dismissed Jensen’s national-origin discrimination claim with prejudice.

Race-based disparate treatment

The court analyzed Jensen’s race claim under a disparate-treatment theory, which concerns treating someone less favorably because of race. The court explained that Section 1981 requires a plaintiff to plausibly allege that race was the but-for cause of the loss of a legally protected contract right.

The court found that Jensen’s complaint did not connect the negative treatment to his race. It did not allege racial language, facts showing that similarly situated Caucasian employees were treated more favorably, or facts showing that the manager or anyone else at College Town knew Jensen’s racial identity. The court concluded that alleging membership in a protected class and poor treatment at work, without facts linking the treatment to race, was insufficient. It dismissed the race-based disparate-treatment claim.

Race-based hostile work environment

The court also analyzed a hostile-work-environment theory, which requires workplace harassment connected to a protected characteristic and sufficiently severe or pervasive conduct to alter the conditions of employment and create an abusive environment.

The court found two independent problems. First, Jensen did not allege facts creating a connection between the conduct and his race. Second, even assuming such a connection, the five incidents identified in the opinion—over a nineteen-month period—described an unpleasant or unprofessional workplace but did not meet the required level of severity or pervasiveness. The court therefore dismissed the hostile-work-environment claim.

Order

Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan granted College Town Pizza, Inc.’s motion to dismiss. Jensen’s national-origin discrimination claim was dismissed with prejudice. Jensen’s race-discrimination claim was dismissed without prejudice. The court directed that judgment be entered accordingly.