Boney v. Trs. of Cape Fear Cmty. Coll.

366 F. Supp. 3d 756
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedMarch 5, 2019
DocketNo. 7:18-CV-142-D
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 366 F. Supp. 3d 756 (Boney v. Trs. of Cape Fear Cmty. Coll.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boney v. Trs. of Cape Fear Cmty. Coll., 366 F. Supp. 3d 756 (E.D.N.C. 2019).

Opinion

JAMES C. DEVER III, United States District Judge

On August 6, 2018, Linda K. Boney ("Boney" or "plaintiff") filed a complaint against Cape Fear Community College Foundation, Inc. [D.E. 1]. On August 22, 2018, Boney filed an amended complaint against Cape Fear Community College [D.E. 6].1 On September 12, 2018, Boney filed a second amended complaint [D.E. 11] against the Trustees of Cape Fear Community College ("Cape Fear" or "defendant"), alleging age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 621 etseq. ("ADEA"), sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e etseq. ("Title VII"), and retaliatory discharge in violation of Title VII.2 On November 12, 2018, Cape Fear moved to dismiss Boney's second amended complaint for failure to state a claim [D.E. 16] and filed a memorandum in support [D.E. 17]. On the same day, Cape Fear answered the complaint [D.E. 18], filed an amended motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim [D.E. 19], and filed a supporting memorandum [D.E. 20]. On November 26, 2018, Boney responded in opposition [D.E. 22]. On December 9, 2018, Cape Fear replied [D.E. 23]. As explained below, the court grants Cape Fear's amended motion to dismiss.

I.

Boney began working at Cape Fear Community College, a community college in Wilmington, North Carolina, in August 2001. See 2d Am. Compl. [D.E. 11] ¶¶ 9, 13. Boney started as a database technician. See id. ¶ 14. After receiving satisfactory performance reviews in that role, Cape Fear promoted Boney to helpdesk coordinator of IT services in 2003. See id. ¶ 15. In 2012, Boney became desktop support manager of IT services, and from 2013 until 2017, Boney worked for the Vice President of Cape Fear's IT department. See id. ¶¶ 16-17: Boney received satisfactory performance evaluations in all of these roles. See id. ¶¶ 13-17, 19.

*760In August 2017, Cape Fear hired Kumar Lakhavani ("Lakhavani") as the Director of IT Services. See id. ¶ 18. From the outset, Lakhavani criticized Boney's work performance. See id. ¶¶ 20-25. Specifically, Lakhavani criticized Boney's management of daily operations and projects, ability to meet deadlines, and communication skills. See id. ¶ 21. On separate occasions, Boney made suggestions concerning the department's hiring and computing equipment decisions. See id. ¶¶ 23-24. Lakhavani rejected Boney's suggestions, but when Robert Carter ("Carter"), a younger male employee, made the same suggestions, Lakhavani praised Carter. See id. ¶¶ 22-24. On one occasion, Boney asked to work from home so that she could have her roof repaired. See id. ¶ 25. Although Lakhavani stated that he would accommodate working remotely for family issues, Lakhavani did not think that allowing repairmen into one's home was a sufficient reason to work remotely. See id. Thus, he denied the request. See id. After Boney used vacation time to stay home, Lakhavani changed the policies to stop allowing employees to work remotely. See id.

On November 30, 2017, Boney spoke with the Executive Director of Human Resources, Sharon Smith ("Smith"), about her conflicts with Lakhavani. See id. ¶ 26. Boney told Smith that she believed that Lakhavani treated her differently due to her age and sex, and Boney opined that he treated younger male employees differently. See id. Smith responded that Lakhavani's supervisor, Melissa Singler ("Singler"), would not tolerate discriminatory behavior. See id. ¶ 27.

On December 6, 2017, Human Resources convened a meeting with Smith, Lakhavani, and Boney. See id.

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366 F. Supp. 3d 756, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boney-v-trs-of-cape-fear-cmty-coll-nced-2019.