Chen-Oster v. Goldman, Sachs & Co.

251 F. Supp. 3d 579, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56113
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 12, 2017
Docket10 Civ. 6950 (AT) (JCF)
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 251 F. Supp. 3d 579 (Chen-Oster v. Goldman, Sachs & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chen-Oster v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., 251 F. Supp. 3d 579, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56113 (S.D.N.Y. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ,

ANALISA TORRES, United States District Judge

In this employment discrimination case, Plaintiffs, H. Christina Chen-Oster, Lisa Parisi, Shanna Orlich, Allison Gamba, and Mary De Luis, allege that their former employer, Defendants Goldman, Sachs <& Co. and the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (collectively, “Goldman Sachs”), violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. (“Title VU”), and the New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-101 et seq. (“NYCHRL”), by systematically disfavoring female employees and denying them equal compensation and advancement opportunities based on their gender. Defendants move to dismiss Gamba’s and De Luis’ claims for injunctive and declaratory relief. Plaintiffs move to file a supplemental complaint. For the reasons stated below, both motions to dismiss are DENIED, and Plaintiffs’ motion to file a supplemental complaint is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

I. Relevant Procedural History

The Court assumes familiarity with facts of the case and recites only briefly the procedural history relevant to these motions. On September 16, 2010, Plaintiffs Chen-Oster, Parisi, and Orlich brought this putative 'class action alleging intentional. discrimination, disparate impact discrimination, retaliation, and pregnancy discrimination under, Title VII and the NYCHRL. ECF No. 5. On April 13, 2015, Plaintiffs Gamba, and De Luis moved to intervene, ECF No. 377, which the Honorable-James C. Francis granted on August 3, 2015, ECF No. 410. Defendants appealed Magistrate Judge Francis’ order and, on June 6, 2016, this Court affirmed the order. ECF No. 450.

Plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint on August 3, 2015, which included allegations regarding Gamba and De Luis. ECF No. 411. On September 28, 2015, Defendants moved to dismiss Gamba’s claims for injunctive and declaratory relief. ECF No. 441. By letter dated May 9, 2016, Defendants notified the Court that De Luis no longer worked for Goldman Sachs, ECF No. 446, and subsequently moved to dismiss De Luis’ claims for injunctive and declaratory relief, ECF No. 457.

On July 1, 2016, Plaintiffs filed a motion to'file a supplement to the second amended complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(d) to add factual allegations and causes of action related to De Luis’ departure from Goldman Sachs. ECF No. 455. Finally, on March 9, 2017, Plaintiffs requested to amend their proposed supplement to include that De Luis received a right to sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. ECF No. 477; see also ECF No. 477-1 (“Am. Suppl. Compl.”). Defendants oppose the initial motion to file a supplement to the second amended complaint,- ECF No. 456, but do not oppose the substitution of the new proposed supplement for the old, ECF No. 478.

II. Gamba

Gamba worked for Goldman Sachs in New York from 2001 to August 2014. Second Am. Compl. ¶16. In 2003, Gamba joined the New York Stock Exchange Equities Department. Id. ¶125. That year, she was promoted to Vice President. Id. Although she was eligible to be promoted to Managing Director in 2005, she was never promoted again. Id. ¶ 133.

[585]*585Gamba claims that Goldman Sachs “evaluated her performance more harshly than it did similarly performing males, paid her less in base compensation and bonuses than it paid similarly situated men, and promoted equally or less qualified men instead of her to positions she was qualified to hold.” Id. ¶ 126. For instance, she states that in 2007, her manager “indicated that Gamba would be nominated for promotion to Managing Director, but suggested that she consider ‘adopting’ instead of becoming pregnant.” Id. ¶ 127. Gamba took maternity leave for part of 2008. Id. ¶ 129. That same year, Goldman considered and rejected Gamba for a promotion to Managing Director, promoting a male trader whose “trading performance was not as good as” hers, id. ¶ 130, despite the fact that Gamba’s revenue from her stock portfolio rose from $1.2 million in 2005 to over $6 million in 2007 and to $9.5 million in 2008, id. ¶¶ 127, 129. In August 2014, her employment with Goldman Sachs ended when Goldman Sachs “divested itself of the department in which she worked.” Id. ¶¶ 16. Among other remedies, Gamba seeks reinstatement to her “rightful position[ ] at Goldman Sachs.” Id. ¶ 205(j).

III. De Luis

De Luis began working at Goldman Sachs in June 2010 as a Senior Analyst in the Investment Management Division. Id. ¶¶ 18, 137. She worked first out of Miami, Florida and then in Dallas, Texas, but regularly “travelled] to and works from the Goldman Sachs’s New York, New York office.” Id. ¶ 18. In 2012, she was promoted to the position of Associate. Id. ¶ 137. In 2014, she was made a Vice President. Id. However, De Luis alleges that she has been evaluated unfairly based on her gender, id. ¶ 139, and paid less than her male colleagues throughout her employment, id. ¶ 140.

In March 2016, De Luis requested a transfer from Goldman Sachs’ Dallas office to its Miami office, due to the relocation of her significant other. Am. Suppl. Compl. ¶ 5. Prior to her participation in the present lawsuit, De Luis “had been assured by Goldman Sachs in March 2012 and September 2014 ... that relocation to Miami in 2016 would be possible.” Id. ¶ 6. However, after requesting the transfer, De Luis was informed that she could work in Dallas or New York “or apply and be considered for an inferior position in Miami.” Id. ¶¶ 5-6. De Luis claims that Goldman Sachs denied her transfer request because “her supervisory function could not be carried out remotely,” even though coordination of her team was being done remotely “as many members of the team were located in New York or regional offices.” Id. ¶ 8. De Luis claims that Goldman Sachs denied her transfer request in retaliation for her role as a plaintiff in this case. Id. ¶¶ 9, 10. De Luis resigned on May 2, 2016. Id. ¶ 11. The amended supplemental complaint states causes of action for retaliation under Title VII and the NYCHRL. Id. ¶¶ 12-21. She seeks reinstatement. Id. ¶¶ 16, 21, 22.

DISCUSSION

I. Legal Principles

Defendants have moved to dismiss Gam-ba’s and De Luis’ claims for injunctive and declaratory relief pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Before turning to each motion, the Court addresses certain legal issues raised in both motions.

A. 12(b)(1) Motion

In resolving a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, “the district court must take all uncontroverted facts in the complaint ... as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of [586]*586the party asserting jurisdiction,” Tandem v. Captain’s Cove Marina of Bridgeport, Inc., 752 F.3d 239, 243 (2d Cir. 2014).

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251 F. Supp. 3d 579, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chen-oster-v-goldman-sachs-co-nysd-2017.