Ham v. ICL Bronx House Institute for Community Living

Background

Tori Jane Ham filed this action without a lawyer against her former employer, ICL Bronx House Institute for Community Living, and Angelyce Scott, identified as ICL’s Associate Vice President of Human Resources. Ham alleged that she was discriminated against because she cared for her elderly grandfather, who lived with her and whom she alleged had an unspecified disability that made him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. The court construed the complaint as asserting claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws.

Ham alleged that she began working for ICL as an administrative assistant in February 2016. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ICL permitted employees to work from home under certain arrangements. After Ham requested to work from home five days per week, ICL initially granted permission but withdrew it several days later. ICL said she would not have enough work to perform at home. Ham proposed retrieving documents from the office before other employees arrived and submitted plans for work within her job duties, but her supervisor continued to require her to come to the office and work at the front desk.

After consulting the New York State Department of Labor, Ham told ICL that she would self-quarantine for two weeks because of her exposure to ill colleagues and potentially ill people served by ICL, as well as her concern for her grandfather’s health. On April 16, 2020, Scott informed Ham that ICL had terminated her employment because it understood that she had abandoned her job. Ham sought backpay and reinstatement.

Court’s analysis

Because Ham was allowed to proceed without paying filing fees, the court was required to dismiss any claim that was frivolous, malicious, failed to state a claim for relief, or sought money from an immune defendant. The court also had to dismiss claims over which it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Although courts read complaints filed without lawyers liberally, those complaints still must provide enough factual detail to make a claim legally plausible.

Ham did not allege that she herself had a disability. The court therefore treated her complaint as alleging associational discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. That provision bars an employer from denying jobs or benefits to a qualified employee because of the known disability of someone with whom the employee has a relationship or association.

To state this type of claim, Ham had to allege facts showing that she was qualified for the job, suffered an adverse employment action, was known to have a relative or associate with a disability, and experienced the adverse action under circumstances suggesting that the relative’s or associate’s disability was a determining factor. The court assumed, for purposes of its analysis, that Ham had sufficiently alleged the first two requirements. It found that she had not alleged enough facts to show that her grandfather had a disability covered by the Act, that ICL knew of that disability, or that his disability was a determining factor in ICL’s decision to deny her permission to work from home or terminate her employment.

Disposition

The court dismissed Ham’s claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act for failure to state a claim, but granted her leave to replead those associational-discrimination claims. The court dismissed the action and gave her 30 days to file an amended complaint. The amended complaint would replace the original complaint, so any allegations or attachments she wanted to preserve had to be included again.

The court stated that if Ham did not comply with the order or still failed to state a claim, it would dismiss her federal claims and decline to consider her state-law claims under supplemental jurisdiction. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Ham fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The opinion does not state that the dismissal was with or without prejudice.