Gottlieb v. Alexander R. Acosta Secretary of Labor

Background

Carmen Gottlieb sued the United States Department of Labor under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act and relevant provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. She alleged disability discrimination, including failure to provide a reasonable accommodation, retaliation, and disparate treatment.

Gottlieb worked for the Department of Labor as a Wage and Hour Technician in Westbury, New York. She alleged that she lived apart from her husband and children, who lived in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, and that the long commute and work environment harmed her health. She alleged that she developed anxiety and other medical problems, was diagnosed with major depression, and requested a transfer to a Department of Labor office or position in North Carolina as a reasonable accommodation.

The Department allegedly denied the requested transfers because there were no vacancies in the requested offices and because the matter was beyond management’s control. Gottlieb later filed a 2014 formal disability complaint with the Department’s equal-employment office. She also filed a formal complaint with the Merit Systems Protection Board alleging disability discrimination and retaliation. The Board decided that it lacked jurisdiction because the matter involved a reassignment rather than a constructive suspension. Gottlieb appealed that decision, and the appeal was later transferred to the district court after a Supreme Court decision concerning jurisdiction over these appeals.

Motion and Report

The Department moved to dismiss part of the complaint for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), which requires dismissal when a complaint does not allege enough facts to support a legally plausible claim. The Department also asked to amend the caption.

Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein recommended granting the motion and changing the caption to replace the Department of Labor with R. Alexander Acosta, in his official capacity as Secretary of Labor. No party objected to the report. Judge Daniels reviewed it for clear error, found none, and adopted it in full.

Court’s Analysis

The court held that the claims arising from Gottlieb’s Merit Systems Protection Board proceedings should be dismissed because her 2014 equal-employment complaint and her Board complaint concerned the same matter. Under the Civil Service Reform Act and related regulations, a federal employee generally must choose between beginning a mixed case—one involving both a serious personnel action and discrimination—through the agency’s equal-employment process or through the Merit Systems Protection Board. The employee may not pursue both initial routes for the same matter.

The court explained that the relevant “matter” concerns the conduct underlying the claim, rather than merely the legal label placed on it. It agreed with Magistrate Judge Gorenstein that both proceedings involved the same time period, the same alleged disability—major depression—and the same underlying conduct: Gottlieb’s requests for a transfer to North Carolina as a reasonable accommodation and the Department’s denials of those requests.

The court also found that the caption should be amended to identify R. Alexander Acosta, in his official capacity as Secretary of Labor, instead of the United States Department of Labor. The opinion notes that Gottlieb did not oppose that caption change.

Disposition

Judge Daniels adopted the report and recommendation. The court granted the respondent’s motion to dismiss and directed the Clerk of Court to close the motion. The caption was amended to replace the United States Department of Labor with R. Alexander Acosta, in his official capacity as Secretary of Labor.