Felder v. Atria Builders

Background

Sean G. Felder brought this case without a lawyer against Atria Builders, Ed Grunwall, identified in the caption as president, and Mike Ferguski, identified in the caption as security director. Felder alleged that the defendants discriminated against him because he is Black. He invoked Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

Felder alleged that he had worked for three years as firewatch security at a construction site and that Assistant Security Director Ed Smalls decided by telephone to terminate him on July 23, 2019. He connected the termination to an issue involving bed bugs at the construction site and alleged that upper management had plotted to find ways to terminate him. He said he had filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and received a notice of the right to sue. He sought unspecified monetary damages.

Court’s Review

Because Felder had permission to proceed without paying the filing fee, the court was required to screen his complaint. It had to dismiss claims that were frivolous, malicious, failed to state a legally sufficient claim, sought money from an immune defendant, or fell outside the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction. The court also explained that it had to read a self-represented plaintiff’s allegations generously, but the complaint still had to provide enough facts to make a claim plausible rather than merely possible.

Section 1981 Claim

Section 1981 protects the equal right to make and enforce contracts without racial discrimination. The court stated that a plaintiff must allege that he belongs to a racial minority, that the defendants intended to discriminate because of race, and that the discrimination affected an activity covered by the statute.

The court found Felder’s allegations insufficient because the facts did not suggest that the defendants’ conduct was motivated by racial hostility or racial discrimination.

Title VII and Age Discrimination Claims

Title VII prohibits an employer from taking adverse employment action because of race and other protected characteristics. The age-discrimination law protects workers who are at least 40 years old from discrimination because of age. At the pleading stage, Felder had to allege an adverse employment action and facts plausibly suggesting that a protected characteristic was a motivating factor.

The court found the Title VII allegations insufficient because Felder did not allege facts suggesting that his employer took action against him because of his race. The court also noted that Felder did not state that he was at least 40 years old and did not adequately allege that the alleged adverse actions occurred because of his age.

Ruling

The court granted Felder leave to file an amended complaint within 60 days. The amended complaint had to provide a short and plain statement of the facts supporting each claim against each defendant, identify relevant people and their titles, describe what each defendant did or failed to do, provide dates and locations when possible, explain how the conduct violated Felder’s federal rights, describe his injuries, state the relief requested, and provide addresses for the named defendants. The court explained that the amended complaint would replace the original complaint rather than supplement it.

The court directed that no summons issue at that time. It stated that if Felder did not file a compliant amended complaint within the allowed period and could not show good cause, the complaint would be dismissed for failure to state a claim. Judge Louis L. Stanton denied Felder’s request for counsel without prejudice to renewing it later.