McKenzie v. Big Apple Training Inc.

Background

Kellyann A. McKenzie taught phlebotomy and EKG classes at Big Apple Training Inc. for about seven months before she was terminated. She alleged that Big Apple discriminated against her based on her national origin, religion, disability, and sex, and that it created a hostile work environment. She also alleged that she was asked to allow a student who had failed and had previously cheated to take another exam to pass the class, which she viewed as conflicting with her religious beliefs.

McKenzie filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights identifying age and national origin as the bases of discrimination. The agency investigated and dismissed the complaint, finding insufficient evidence of age or national-origin discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission later issued her a right-to-sue letter. McKenzie then filed this federal case and amended her complaint twice after earlier dismissals for insufficient factual allegations.

Claims and Legal Standards

The court construed the operative complaint to assert disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, religious, national-origin, and sex discrimination under Title VII, a Title VII hostile-work-environment claim, and claims under the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law.

On a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the court considered whether the complaint alleged enough facts to make liability plausible rather than merely possible or speculative. Because McKenzie was representing herself, the court read her allegations liberally, but it still required her to meet the minimum pleading requirements.

Title VII and Americans with Disabilities Act claims generally require a plaintiff to first present the relevant discrimination claims to an administrative agency. Claims not expressly raised may proceed only if they are sufficiently related to the claims presented to the agency that the agency could reasonably have been expected to investigate them.

Court’s Analysis

The court held that McKenzie had not exhausted the administrative process for her religion, sex, or disability claims. Her state administrative complaint identified only age and national origin as the bases of discrimination and did not include facts that would have alerted the agency to the other claims. The court therefore dismissed those claims for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

The court separately held that McKenzie failed to plead enough facts to support even a minimal inference that Big Apple acted because of her disability. Allegations that workplace stress aggravated her bipolar II disorder and that negative comments might have related to her disability were considered speculative and conclusory.

The court also dismissed the national-origin and religious-discrimination claims because the alleged incorrect grading of exams, workplace conduct, and request concerning the failing student did not provide sufficient facts suggesting discriminatory motivation. The court similarly dismissed the sex-discrimination claim because allegations that female instructors had been terminated and that Big Apple had high turnover did not plausibly connect any adverse action to sex or show that men received better treatment.

The hostile-work-environment claim failed because the alleged yelling, use of authority, frequent terminations, and negative comments were not tied to a protected characteristic and were not sufficiently severe or pervasive to create an abusive working environment under Title VII.

State-Law Claims and Leave to Amend

After dismissing all federal claims, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claims under the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law. The court stated that the federal-court dismissal for lack of jurisdiction over those claims did not necessarily prevent McKenzie from bringing them in state court.

The court denied further leave to amend. It reasoned that McKenzie had already received two opportunities to amend, had not cured the pleading problems identified in the earlier opinions, and had not explained how another amendment would fix the deficiencies.

Disposition

Judge Gregory H. Woods granted Big Apple’s motion to dismiss. The court dismissed the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII claims with prejudice, denied leave to amend, directed the Clerk to enter judgment for Big Apple, and closed the case. The opinion’s discussion states that the remaining state claims should be dismissed after the federal claims were eliminated, while its conclusion specifically describes the court as declining jurisdiction over those state claims rather than expressly labeling their dismissal.