Conley v. Northwest Florida State College

145 F. Supp. 3d 1073, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158504, 2015 WL 7180504
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedNovember 12, 2015
DocketCase No. 3:14-cv-00628-MCR-EMT
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 145 F. Supp. 3d 1073 (Conley v. Northwest Florida State College) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conley v. Northwest Florida State College, 145 F. Supp. 3d 1073, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158504, 2015 WL 7180504 (N.D. Fla. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

M. CASEY RODGERS, CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Pending before the Court is Defendant Northwest Florida State College’s (“NFSC”) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff Danielle Rahilly Conley’s sex-discrimination claim under Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 el seq. Having fully considered the matter, the Court finds that the motion is due to be denied.1

Background

Conley alleges the following facts in her Complaint. Conley became pregnant in early 2012 while enrolled as a student in NFSC’s paramedic program for the 2012-2013 school year. As part of the program, Conley was required to participate in an off-campus clinical rotation for academic credit. NFSC placed her with Okaloosa County Emergency Medical Services (“OCEMS”), where she was already employed as an emergency medical services technician or “EMT.” In October of 2012, Conley informed OCEMS that she was pregnant and inquired about her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act. OCEMS informed NFSC about Conley’s [1075]*1075pregnancy, and NFSC responded by requiring Conley to provide medical documentation that, she was able to participate in the clinical portion of her education program. NFSC did not, however, require other students who were under the treatment of a doctor for a physical or emotional condition to provide additional documentation beyond the initial health certification required of all students participating in off-campus clinical rotations, Nevertheless, on November 8, 2012, Conley provided NFSC with a doctor’s note stating she was fit to participate in the program. Two days later, however, Conley was admitted to the hospital for Brax-ton-Hicks or “false labor” contractions. The following day, Conley was discharged from the hospital and placed on bed rest for three days. She provided the discharge papers to OCEMS. On November 13, 2012, OCEMS Chief A1 Herndon informed NFSC by email that Conley would not be allowed to participate in the clinical rotation due to potential liability regarding her unborn child. The next day, NFSC dismissed Conley from her clinical rotation and gave her an “incomplete” for the course.

On November 14, 2012, Conley was placed on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy, and she provided a note to OCEMS to that effect so she could be placed oh relief status for that time. NFSC also received a copy of the note and advised Conley that with a doctor’s release and the approval of OCEMS, she could complete her clinical rotation the week before the spring semester was to begin. Again, NFSC did not require other students under a doctor’s care to provide the same type of approval.

On December 15, 2012, Conley inquired about taking the final exam she missed due to the birth of her daughter. On January 3, 2013, she was released by her doctor to return to school and the clinical rotation. The next day, Barry Reed, who was in charge of NFSC’s paramedic program, emailed Conley and informed her that if she took her final exam and completed her clinical rotation, she could be reinstated before the start of the spring semester. On January 6, 2013, Larry Skeete, a representative of NFSC, refused to reinstate Conley to the status she had before her maternity leave began and refused to let her take the final exam or finish her clinical rotation before the start of the spring semester.2 Skeete told Conley that if she knew she -was pregnant, she could have taken extra clinical rotations to get them out of the way.

According to Conley, on January 9, 2013, without first obtaining a release or permission from her, NFSC contacted her OB/ GYN in order to persuade the doctor to revoke her release to return to the clinical portion of her school program. Thereafter, NFSC Dean Sasha Jarrell informed Conley by email that she would never have been admitted into the paramedic program if NFSC had known she was pregnant. Further, Conley alleges that after she complained to NFSC about discrimination, NFSC President Ty'Handy emailed her to admonish her for taking risks with her condition, saying that the courts would agree she “messed in her nest” and now wanted the college to bail her out.3

On November 17/2014, Conley filed the instant sex-discrimination claim pursuant [1076]*1076to Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., which NFSC has moved to dismiss.

Standard of Review

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires that a complaint provide “a short and plain statement of the eláím showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” “To survive a motion to dismiss, á complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). ' The Court construes all factual allegations in the'complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Lanfear v. Home Depot, Inc., 679 F.3d 1267, 1275 (11th Cir.2012).

Discussion

In its motion to dismiss, NFSC argues that there is no private right of action for- pregnancy- discrimination under Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681. Conley argues in response that § 1681’s prohibition of discrimination “on the basis of sex” is broad enough to encompass pregnancy-based discrimination. She relies in part on a Department of Education Regulation- 34 C.F.R. § 106.40 that construes § 1681’s prohibition of discrimination “on the basis of sex” - to include pregnancy-based discrimination. The Court agrees with Conley that Title IX’s prohibition of discrimination “on the basis of sex” encompasses pregnancy-based discrimination.

The Court begins its construction of § 1681 with the statute’s text.4 See Koch Foods, Inc. v. Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of Labor, 712 F.3d 476, 480 (11th Cir.2013) (quoting DIRECTV, Inc. v. Brown, 371 F.3d 814, 817 (11th Cir.2004)); see also Animal Legal Def. Fund v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 789 F.3d 1206, 1216 (11th Cir.2015); Harris v. Garner, 216 F.3d 970, 972 (11th Cir.2000) (en banc). Title IX provides that “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”5 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a). The statute does not define the term “sex.” In the absence of a statutory definition of a particular term, courts look to common usage of words for their meaning. See Koch Foods, 712 F.3d at 480 (quoting Jackson v. State Bd. of Pardons and Paroles,

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145 F. Supp. 3d 1073, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158504, 2015 WL 7180504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conley-v-northwest-florida-state-college-flnd-2015.