Rivers v. International House of Pancakes

Background

Nyjhia Rivers sued International House of Pancakes (IHOP), Trihop 14th Street, LLC, and Sylvia LNU. She alleged that the defendants violated Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law by reducing her work hours and then terminating her after she became pregnant.

Rivers worked as a server at an IHOP franchise in Brooklyn and later at an IHOP franchise in Manhattan, which was managed by Trihop. She alleged that she told Sylvia, the franchise’s general manager, that she was pregnant and requested morning shifts because of pregnancy-related evening nausea. She was taken off the schedule for two weeks, then assigned half as many shifts as before, and later received no shifts after December 29, 2018.

Rivers filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission naming IHOP and Sylvia, but not Trihop. The opinion states that counsel filed the charge for her. She later sued and amended her complaint to add Trihop. The defendants moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), which tests whether a complaint alleges enough facts to state a legally plausible claim.

Court’s analysis

Claims against IHOP. The court held that Rivers had not plausibly alleged that IHOP was her employer under Title VII or the Americans with Disabilities Act. Although a company that is not the direct employer can sometimes be a “joint employer,” Rivers had to allege facts showing that IHOP had immediate control over her employment.

The court found that Rivers had not alleged that IHOP participated in hiring or firing Trihop employees, controlled their schedules or working conditions, set their pay, or kept their employment records. The complaint alleged that IHOP required franchise locations to follow a serving handbook and conducted detailed inspections, but the court considered those inspections insufficient to show the required employment control. The court also found no adequate allegations of IHOP’s functional control over Rivers’s work. It therefore dismissed the claims against IHOP.

Federal claims against Trihop. The court held that Title VII and Americans with Disabilities Act claims generally require an employee to file a timely discrimination charge naming each defendant. Rivers’s charge did not name Trihop. The court considered an exception based on an “identity of interest,” which can sometimes allow a claim against an unnamed defendant when the named and unnamed parties have sufficiently similar interests and other factors favor allowing the case to proceed.

The court concluded that the exception did not apply. It emphasized that Rivers was represented by counsel when the charge was filed, and the complaint did not say that her counsel lacked experience with Title VII or Americans with Disabilities Act claims. The court also stated that Rivers should have been able to identify Trihop as her direct employer, that IHOP and Trihop were not commonly controlled and did not share liability for the alleged discrimination, and that Trihop had not represented that Rivers’s relationship with it ran through IHOP. The court dismissed the Title VII and Americans with Disabilities Act claims against Trihop.

State and city claims. After dismissing the federal claims, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction—the authority to hear related state-law claims in the same case—over Rivers’s New York State and New York City claims. The court noted that the case was at an early stage and dismissed those claims without prejudice.

Disposition

Judge Oetken granted the defendants’ Rule 12(b)(6) motion. The opinion states that the claims against IHOP were dismissed, the Title VII and Americans with Disabilities Act claims against Trihop were dismissed, and the New York State and New York City claims were dismissed without prejudice. The Clerk was directed to close the motion and the case. The opinion does not separately explain the disposition of any federal claims against Sylvia LNU.