Fouche v. St. Charles Hospital

64 F. Supp. 3d 452, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171052, 2014 WL 6980021
District Court, E.D. New York·Decided December 10, 2014·No. No. 14-CV-02492 (ADS)(ARL)·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

SPATT, District Judge.

On April 18, 2014, the Plaintiff Gilberte Fouche (the “Plaintiff”) commenced this action against her former employer, the Defendant St. Charles Hospital (the “Defendant”). The Plaintiff asserted three claims for relief: (1) wrongful termination or constructive discharge in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., namely § 510 of ERISA; (2) retaliation in violation of New York Labor Law § 740 and New York Civil Service Law § 75-b; and (3) discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, and national origin in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), § 2000e et seq.

On July 16, 2014, the Defendant moved, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Fed. R. Civ.P.”) 12(b)(6), to dismiss the complaint in its entirety.

On September 8, 2014, 43 F.Supp.3d 206, 2014 WL 4413782 (E.D.N.Y.2014), the Court granted the Defendant’s motion; dismissed the complaint in its entirety; and gave the Plaintiff twenty days to file an amended complaint limited to a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

On September 25, 2014, the Plaintiff filed an amended complaint, raising claims of discrimination and retaliation in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

On October 14, 2014, the Defendant moved, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), to dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

[455] For the reasons set forth below, the Defendant’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint is granted.

I. BACKGROUND

Unless stated otherwise, the following facts are drawn from the amended complaint and construed in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, the Plaintiff.

The Plaintiff, a black female of Haitian national origin, is a resident of New York. She is a registered nurse (“RN”) and was an employee of the Defendant, a hospital in Suffolk County, New York, from 2005 to 2011. The Plaintiff is a member of the New York State Nurses Association, a labor union that had a collective bargaining agreément with the Defendant at all the relevant times.

The Plaintiffs regular shift as an RN was in the Intensive Care Unit. On October 21, 2011, the Plaintiff covered the Telemetry Unit for the night shift. The Telemetry Unit provided continuing electronic monitoring. A white nurse had been granted overtime and had been scheduled to cover the Telemetry Unit that night. However, that nurse refused to work the shift in the Telemetry Unit and was, instead, permitted to work in the Intensive Care Unit. According to the Plaintiff, she was assigned to the Telemetry Unit as the sole RN, without sufficient supporting staff and with, more patients under her care than permitted by the Defendant’s internal rules.

During this shift, one patient’s defibrillator machine indicated a reading of atrial fibrillation (“A-Fib”). After checking the machine, the Plaintiff phoned the physician in charge of the patient; the physician told the Plaintiff that the patient had a history of such conditions, and prescribed certain medication.

After treating the patient, the Plaintiff discovered a problem with a remote defibrillator monitor; in fact, the Plaintiff subsequently discovered that all the machines in the Telemetry Unit were faulty. The Plaintiff “was then advised that the machines had been malfunctioning for a while and that this was well known to the administration [of the Defendant].” (Amended Compl. ¶ 14.) In a written report, the Plaintiff later documented that the defibrillator machines in the Telemetry Unit were defective.

At the end of the night shift, the physician who advised the Plaintiff on how to treat the patient with “A-Fib” reassured the Plaintiff that the administering of medication to that patient was proper. (Id. ¶ 17.) The Plaintiff claims that she “did not breach any hospital rules or rules of professional conduct applicable to nurses.” (Id. ¶ 33.)

One week after the Plaintiffs night shift in the Telemetry Unit, she was called to meet with certain administrators employed by the Defendant, after which she was placed on unpaid leave indefinitely. (Amended Compl. ¶ 19.) According to the amended complaint and the charge of discrimination with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), the Plaintiff was placed on unpaid leave because of her race, color, gender and national origin and because she complained about the hospital’s defective machines. The hospital administration told the Plaintiff that she was subjected to discipline for improperly responding to the patient in “A-Fib” condition on the night shift of October 21, 2011. (Id. at ¶ 21.)

The hospital administration then gave the Plaintiff the “ultimatum” of resigning her job immediately, or remaining on unpaid leave and being subject to investigation by the Office of Professional Discipline, which could impact her RN license. [456] The Defendant did not inform the Plaintiff that her resignation would also automatically “trigger a reporting incident” to the Office of Professional Discipline; rather, the Defendant apparently told the Plaintiff that the matter would not be reported if she resigned. On November 16, 2011, the Plaintiff resigned her employment.

This action followed.

II. DISCUSSION

A. The Legal Standard on a Fed.R. Civ.P. 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss

Under the now well-established Twom-bly standard, a complaint should be dismissed only if it does not contain enough allegations of fact to state a claim for relief that is “plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1974, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The Second Circuit has explained that, after Twombly, the Court’s inquiry under Rule 12(b)(6) is guided by two principles. Harris v. Mills, 572 F.3d 66, 71-72 (2d Cir.2009) (citing Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949-50, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009)).

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Fouche v. St. Charles Hospital, 64 F. Supp. 3d 452, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171052, 2014 WL 6980021 (E.D.N.Y. 2014).

64 F. Supp. 3d 452 (Fouche v. St. Charles Hospital) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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