Abbas v. Brennan

District Court, E.D. Michigan·Decided July 22, 2020·No. 2:19-cv-13367·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION

JAD ABED ABBAS

Plaintiff, Civil Case No. 19-13367 v. Honorable Linda V. Parker

MEGAN J. BRENNAN, POSTMASTER GENERAL, UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE,

Defendant. ________________________________________/

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFF’S COMPLAINT AND DENYING PLAINTIFF’S “MOTION”

This is an action brought pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a) (“Title VII”). Plaintiff Jad Abed Abbas1 claims that he was wrongfully terminated from his position with the United States Postal Service based on his religion, national origin, and perceived sexual orientation. Defendant is Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General for the United States Postal Service. Presently before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s

1 At some point in time, Plaintiff appears to have changed his name to Jad Abed Abbas from George H. Omar. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission documents Plaintiff attached to his Complaint are addressed to George Omar (see ECF No. 1 at Pg ID 13-14), as are the documents attached to Defendant’s motion to dismiss. (See ECF Nos. 7-1 to 7-6). Complaint on the basis that Plaintiff did not exhaust all administrative remedies. For the following reasons, the Court is granting Defendant’s motion.

I. Standard for Motion to Dismiss A motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint. RMI Titanium Co. v.

Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 78 F.3d 1125, 1134 (6th Cir. 1996). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), a pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint need not contain “detailed factual allegations,” but

it must contain more than “labels and conclusions” or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action . . ..” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). A complaint does not “suffice if it tenders ‘naked assertions’ devoid

of ‘further factual enhancement.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557). As the Supreme Court provided in Iqbal and Twombly, “[t]o survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as

true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is

liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). The plausibility standard “does not impose a probability requirement at the pleading stage; it simply calls for enough facts to raise a reasonable expectation that

discovery will reveal evidence of illegal [conduct].” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556. In deciding whether the plaintiff has set forth a “plausible” claim, the court must accept the factual allegations in the complaint as true. Erickson v. Pardus,

551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007). This presumption is not applicable to legal conclusions, however. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 668. Therefore, “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555).

Ordinarily, the court may not consider matters outside the pleadings when deciding a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Weiner v. Klais & Co., Inc., 108 F.3d 86, 88 (6th Cir. 1997) (citing Hammond v. Baldwin, 866 F.2d 172, 175 (6th Cir.

1989)). A court that considers such matters must first convert the motion to dismiss to one for summary judgment. See Fed. R. Civ. P 12(d). However, “[w]hen a court is presented with a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, it may consider the [c]omplaint and any exhibits attached thereto, public records, items appearing in

the record of the case and exhibits attached to [the] defendant’s motion to dismiss, so long as they are referred to in the [c]omplaint and are central to the claims contained therein.” Bassett v. Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n, 528 F.3d 426, 430

(6th Cir. 2008). II. Factual and Procedural Background

Plaintiff worked for the United States Postal Service as a postal carrier from 2001 until March 2014. (Compl., ECF No. 1 at Pg ID 6.) Prior to his termination, Plaintiff claimed that he was harassed multiple times at work due to his race, religion, and perceived sexual orientation. (Id.)

In 2005, Plaintiff filed an internal complaint against his supervisors with the postmaster. (Id. at Pg ID 7) In 2010, Plaintiff sent another complaint to a different postmaster concerning the harassment he was receiving from his supervisors and received no response. (Id.) In November 2013, Plaintiff filed another complaint

against his supervisors with the postmaster, and still received no response. (Id.) In February 2014, Plaintiff received a letter to report for a “Fitness for Duty” exam. (Id. at Pg ID 8.) Plaintiff failed to report to this exam and was subsequently fired

from his position in March 2014. (Id.) Following his termination, Plaintiff retained counsel and, on July 11, 2014, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). (Id.) An administrative judge held a hearing concerning this complaint in October

2016. (Def.’s Mot. Ex. 2 at 1, ECF No. 7-3 at Pg ID 52) 2. On March 1, 2017, the

2 As Plaintiff refers to his EEOC filing and the administrative judge’s decision in his Complaint, the Court may consider the EEOC documents attached to Defendant’s motion. See Rondigo, LLC v. Twp. of Richmond, 641 F.3d 673, 680- 81 (6th Cir. 2011). administrative judge found that Plaintiff “…had not established race, religion, or national origin discrimination but that [Plaintiff] had established retaliation for

reporting sexual harassment.” (Def.’s Mot. Ex. 1, ECF No. 7-2.) The administrative judge further found that the agency was entitled to excuse Plaintiff from his position after Plaintiff failed to report for the fitness for duty examination.

(Id.) The administrative judge ordered the agency to pay Plaintiff $5,000 in non- pecuniary compensatory damages and instructed it to conduct an investigation into Plaintiff’s claim for pecuniary damages. (Def.’s Mot. Ex. 5 at 2, ECF 7-6 at Pg ID 67.)

On March 7, 2017, Plaintiff and his counsel were each sent a Notice of Final Action by certified mail. (Def.’s Mot., Ex. 2, ECF No. 7-3.) The notice indicated that the agency would be implementing the administrative judge’s decision and

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