Biruk v. The Boeing Company

District Court, W.D. Washington·Decided September 12, 2025·No. 2:25-cv-00779·Unknown

Opinion

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3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 10 ARTEM BIRUK, CASE NO. C25-0779JLR 11 Plaintiff, ORDER v. 12 THE BOEING COMPANY, 13 Defendant. 14 16 Before the court is Defendant The Boeing Company’s (“Boeing”) motion to 17 dismiss pro se Plaintiff Artem Biruk’s amended complaint. (MTD (Dkt. # 23); see Am. 18 Compl. (Dkt. # 20); see also Am. Compl. Exs. A-B (Dkt. ## 20-1, 20-2); Am. Decl. (Dkt. 19 # 21).)1 Mr. Biruk opposes Boeing’s motion. (See Resp. (Dkt. # 27); Memo. (Dkt. 20 1 In ruling on Boeing’s motion to dismiss, the court considers the contents of Mr. Biruk’s 21 complaint, exhibits attached to his complaint, documents incorporated into the complaint by reference, and matters properly subject to judicial notice. See Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & 22 Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322-23 (2007). Because Mr. Biruk is proceeding pro se, the court 1 # 26).)2 To ensure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of this action, the 2 court exercises its discretion to decide Boeing’s motion before its noting date. See Fed.

3 R. Civ. P. 1. The court has considered the parties’ submissions, the balance of the record, 4 and the applicable law. Being fully advised,3 the court GRANTS Boeing’s motion to 5 dismiss. 7 The instant action arises out of Boeing’s termination of Mr. Biruk’s employment 8 in January 2024. On April 3, 2025, after exhausting his administrative remedies, Mr.

9 Biruk filed a complaint in the Snohomish County Superior Court alleging he was 10 wrongfully terminated. (See Compl. (Dkt. # 1-1); see Am. Compl. at 5 (citing Exhibits 11 Dkt. ## 8 (sealed), 28 (redacted)) at 47 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 12 (“EEOC”) Charge of Discrimination), 35 (EEOC Notice of Right to Sue Letter).)4 13 Boeing timely removed the action to this District. (See Not. of Removal (Dkt. # 1).)

14 Shortly thereafter, Boeing moved to dismiss Mr. Biruk’s original complaint for failure to 15 state a claim. (1st MTD (Dkt. # 6).) On July 7, 2025, the court granted Boeing’s motion 16

will also consider his “Amended Declaration”—which provides “additional details and context” 17 for his claims—as part of his complaint. (See Am. Decl. at 1.) 18 2 The court considers Mr. Biruk’s “Memorandum in Support of His Claim of Discrimination” as part of his response. (See Memo.) 19 3 The parties do not request oral argument, and the court concludes that oral argument is not necessary to its disposition of Boeing’s motion. Local Rules W.D. Wash. LCR 7(b)(4). 20 4 The court may consider documents incorporated by reference in Mr. Biruk’s complaint without converting Boeing’s motion to dismiss into a summary judgment motion. United States 21 v. Ritchie, 342 F.3d 903, 907-08 (9th Cir. 2003). As the court explained in its July 7, 2025 order, it will consider the pages of exhibits that Mr. Biruk cites to in his complaint. (7/7/25 Order at 22 6-7.) 1 to dismiss Mr. Biruk’s original complaint, but granted Mr. Biruk leave to file an amended 2 complaint that corrected the deficiencies identified in the court’s order by August 8,

3 2025. (7/7/25 Order (Dkt. # 16) at 16.) 4 Mr. Biruk timely filed an amended complaint. (Am. Compl.; Am. Compl., Exs. 5 A-B; Am. Decl.) Mr. Biruk alleges claims for (1) national origin discrimination under 6 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) and the Washington Law Against 7 Discrimination (“WLAD”) (RCW 49.60.180); (2) hostile work environment under Title 8 VII and WLAD (RCW 49.60.180); (3) discrimination under 42 U.S.C. § 1981; and

9 (4) retaliation under WLAD (RCW 49.60.210). (See Am. Compl. at 3-4.)5 10 Mr. Biruk alleges that on January 2, 2024, his co-worker, Vitaly Suslov, called 11 him a “moron” and “made degrading comments” about his Ukrainian national origin. 12 (See Am. Compl. at 5; Am. Compl., Ex. A at 1.) Specifically, Mr. Biruk contends that 13 Mr. Suslov “asserted his pro-Russian position” and said the Ukrainian language is “not

14 real” and that “there is no such country as Ukraine.” (Am. Compl., Ex. A at 1; see id. 15 (alleging that Mr. Suslov “referred to opponents of the Putin regime . . . using vulgar and 16 derogatory language”).) Mr. Biruk contends these statements “exhibited bias” toward his 17 national origin. (Id.) 18

5 In his response to Boeing’s motion to dismiss, Mr. Biruk also asserts claims for civil 20 theft and “misrepresentation regarding insurance and unemployment benefits.” (Resp. at 5.) Because those claims were not alleged in Mr. Biruk’s amended complaint, the court does not 21 consider those claims here. (See generally Am. Compl.); see Riser v. Cent. Portfolio Control Inc., No. C21-5238LK, 2022 WL 2209648, at *4 n.1 (W.D. Wash. June 21, 2022) (stating that a 22 plaintiff cannot amend his or her complaint through a response brief). 1 Mr. Biruk further alleges that, when “confronted about his behavior,” Mr. Suslov 2 “attempted to shield himself from accountability by shifting blame” to Mr. Biruk. (Id.)

3 Mr. Biruk directs the court to certain pages of the exhibits he filed with his original 4 complaint, which he represents contain the “results of [Boeing’s] internal investigation” 5 conducted by an individual named Lynn Erickson regarding Mr. Biruk’s incident with 6 Mr. Suslov. (Id. (citing Exhibits at 216; see Exhibits at 215-17 (investigation report).) 7 According to the investigation report, Mr. Biruk asked Mr. Suslov if he was “ready if 8 Ukraine wins th[e] war[.]” (Exhibits at 215.) Mr. Biruk also allegedly stated that

9 Russians would be made “slaves[,]” and that “Russians are bad.” (Id. at 215.) The 10 investigation report also states that Mr. Biruk “acknowledged” telling Mr. Suslov that 11 “Russians come into Ukrain[ian] homes and kill their wives and rape their kids[.]” (Id.) 12 Mr. Biruk alleges that Mr. Suslov “made false statements” and “distorted facts” in 13 connection with this investigation. (Am. Compl., Ex. A at 2.) He further alleges that Mr.

14 Suslov “later boasted” to manager Robin Thorning that he had “insulted” Mr. Biruk and 15 “took pride in his conduct,” including that he had called Mr. Biruk a “very bad word.” 16 (Id.; see also Am. Compl. at 5 (alleging that Mr. Suslov “pleaded guilty” to Mr. Thorning 17 following the incident).) Mr. Biruk also asserts that Mr. Suslov’s “version of events 18 [wa]s a deliberate fabrication intended to get [him] terminated.” (Am. Decl. at 2.) In his

19 amended complaint, Mr. Biruk contends that his “only response was to [Mr. Suslov’s] 20 insults against [Mr. Biruk] and [his] country.” (Am. Decl. at 2.) Mr. Biruk also asserts 21 that his manager was “not on his side[.]” (See Am. Compl., Ex. C (Dkt. # 20-3).) He 22 alleges that he was terminated at the end of January 2024, after the investigation was 1 complete. According to the investigation report, Mr. Biruk was terminated for engaging 2 in harassment in violation of Boeing’s Code of Conduct. (See Am. Decl. at 1-2; Exhibits

3 at 215 (noting “Violation: Harassment (Non-Sexual)”); id. at 216 (noting that harassment 4 is a violation of Boeing’s Code of Conduct).) 5 In addition to his allegations regarding Mr. Suslov, Mr. Biruk pleads various facts 6 without explaining where or how those facts fit into his asserted claims. For example, 7 Mr.

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