Shojae v. Harlem Hospital Center

Background

Pari Shojae, a Muslim Persian female pharmacist previously employed by Harlem Hospital Center, sued Harlem Hospital Center; New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Shahnawa Khan; and Henna Farooqi. She asserted discrimination, retaliation, and hostile-work-environment claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law.

An earlier district judge granted summary judgment to the defendants on all claims. The Second Circuit affirmed the rulings concerning Shojae’s hostile-work-environment claims, her Title VII and New York State Human Rights Law disparate-treatment and retaliation claims, and her New York City Human Rights Law claims against Henna Farooqi. It vacated and sent back the rulings on Shojae’s New York City Human Rights Law discrimination and retaliation claims against Harlem Hospital Center, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, and Shahnawa Khan, referred to in this opinion as the Remaining Defendants.

The Motion

The Remaining Defendants filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c). This type of motion asks the court to decide the case from the pleadings, such as the complaint and answer. They argued that any New York City Human Rights Law claims based on events before July 7, 2012, were barred by that law’s three-year statute of limitations. They contended that filing a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission did not pause that deadline.

Shojae argued that her timely Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge paused the limitations period from the date she filed the charge until the agency issued a right-to-sue letter.

Court’s Analysis

The court reaffirmed its prior conclusion that New York City Human Rights Law claims are paused during the period between filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge and receiving a right-to-sue letter. The court relied in part on the work-sharing arrangement under which charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are also treated as filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights. It also relied on the New York City Administrative Code’s tolling provision for complaints filed with the city or state human-rights agencies.

The court rejected the Remaining Defendants’ reading of the Administrative Code. It explained that the provision stating that a federal-agency complaint does not count as a complaint under a particular subsection preserves a plaintiff’s ability to bring a New York City Human Rights Law claim in court; it does not prevent the limitations period from being paused. The court also found the defendants’ cited cases unpersuasive because they addressed different tolling questions or different laws.

Application and Ruling

Shojae alleged discriminatory acts beginning at least in March 2011. She filed her Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge on November 20, 2013, and the agency issued a right-to-sue letter on April 12, 2015. The court calculated that the limitations period was paused for 508 days. Because Shojae filed this action on July 7, 2015, the court determined that the relevant acts occurred, after accounting for tolling, 1,081 days before the lawsuit—within the 1,095-day three-year period.

Judge Katherine Polk Failla denied the Remaining Defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings. The Clerk was directed to terminate the motion, and the parties were ordered to file a joint letter about the next steps in the action by April 30, 2020. This opinion addressed the timeliness issue; it did not resolve the underlying discrimination and retaliation claims on their merits.