Nuness v. Simon & Schuster, Inc.

221 F. Supp. 3d 596, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159315, 100 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,687, 2016 WL 6806338
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedNovember 17, 2016
DocketCivil No. 16-2377 (JBS/KMW)
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 221 F. Supp. 3d 596 (Nuness v. Simon & Schuster, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Nuness v. Simon & Schuster, Inc., 221 F. Supp. 3d 596, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159315, 100 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,687, 2016 WL 6806338 (D.N.J. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

SIMANDLE, Chief Judge:

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Tyshanna Nuness (“Plaintiff’ or “Ms. Nuness”) filed this lawsuit against her employers Simon & Schuster, Inc. and CBS Corp. (“Defendants”) under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJLAD”), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 et seq., as she specifically brings claims of racial harassment, constructive discharge, and retaliatory discharge. Plaintiff alleges that a coworker harassed her on one occasion by calling her a racial epithet, and after Defendants suspended the co-worker for a week and subsequently placed him back on the same shift as Plaintiff, she felt so uncomfortable that she had no choice but to resign.

Presently before the Court is Defendants’ motion to dismiss all claims pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). [Docket Item 8.] For the reasons set forth below, the Court will grant in part and deny in part Defendants’ motion without prejudice.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

The Amended Complaint alleges that from February 1, 2014 to March 20, 2015, Plaintiff, a female African-American line picker employed by Defendants, worked in “close proximity” and “alongside” Christopher Hankins, a male Caucasian line picker. (Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 4, 6-10, 20-21.) Prior to the March 1, 2015 incident described below, Mr. Hankins was “often in trouble for speaking inappropriately towards coworkers,” and Defendants had even “held a department meeting” regarding his inappropriate behavior prior to the incident at issue, but did not take any further disciplinary action at that time. (Id. at ¶¶ Ills.)

On March 1, 2015, Mr. Hankins referred to Plaintiff as a “niglet” — a “racist remark! ]” that “highly offended” her. (Id. at ¶¶ 14-15, 22.) Plaintiff reported the incident to her immediate supervisor, Marcel-lus Williams (“Ms. Williams”) when it occurred, and Ms. Williams forwarded the complaint to the Director of Human Resources, Jacqueline Tuccillo (“Ms. Tuccil-lo”). (Id. at ¶¶ 16-17.) Defendants decided to suspend Mr. Hankins for one week given his inappropriate conduct, but Defendants then placed him back on the same shift as Plaintiff, thereby “forcpng]” Ms. Nuness to work in “close proximity” to the same person who uttered the epithet. (Id. at ¶¶ 18-20.) Because Plaintiff now “felt uncomfortable and unsafe” working near Mr. Hankins, she alerted Ms. Williams and Ms. Tuccillo about her concerns, and she requested that either Mr. Hankins be placed in a different department or on a different shift, or that she be transferred to a different department or shift. (Id. at ¶¶ 21-24.) Defendants denied Plaintiffs re[600]*600quest, despite the availability of “multiple departments and shifts available for either party,” so Plaintiff and Mr. Hankins continued to work together on the same shift in the same department. (M. at ¶¶ 25-26.) There is no allegation that Mr. Hankins ever repeated any racial epithet towards Ms. Nuness. Plaintiff then notified Ms. Tuccillo that she still “felt uncomfortable coming to work” because of Mr. Hankins’s prior racist comment, and informed Ms. Tuccillo that she would be contacting an attorney. (Id. at ¶¶28, 31.) Ms. Tuccillo replied that “if she did not come to work she would be resigning.” (Id. at ¶ 33.) Because she “could no longer tolerate the racially charged environment,” Plaintiff was absent from work for approximately one week. (Id. at ¶¶ 35-36.) On March 20, 2015, Ms. Tuccillo informed Plaintiff that her employment was terminated. (Id. at ¶ 37.)

B. Procedural History

Plaintiff filed suit against Defendants in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Burlington County, Law Division on January 29, 2016, and Defendants removed the action to this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441 et seq. on April 27, 2016. [Docket Item 1.] Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint on May 18, 2016. [Docket Item 5.] Defendants then filed a motion to dismiss all claims pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) on May 27, 2016. [Docket Item 8.]

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

When considering a motion to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), a court must accept all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint as true and view them in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. A motion to dismiss may be granted only if a court concludes that the plaintiff has failed to set forth fair notice of what the claim is and the grounds upon which it rests that make such a claim plausible on its face. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Although Rule 8 does not require “detailed factual allegations,” it requires “more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

Although the court must accept as true all well-pleaded factual allegations, it may disregard any legal conclusions in the complaint. Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside, 578 F.3d 203, 210-11 (3d Cir. 2009). A plaintiff should plead sufficient facts to “raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of the necessary element,” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955, and “[a] pleading that offers labels and conclusions or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

Whether a proposed amendment to the complaint should be permitted at this early stage, when leave to amend should be freely granted under Rule 15(a)(2), is generally measured by whether the proposed amendment would be futile. Adams v. Gould, Inc., 739 F.2d 858, 864 (3d Cir. 1984). “Futility” means that the complaint, as amended, would fail to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Travelers Indem. Co. v. Dammann & Co., 594 F.3d 238, 243 (3d Cir. 2010); Shane v. Fauver, 213 F.3d 113, 115 (3d Cir. 2000). In assessing “futility,” the court applies the same standard of legal sufficiency as applies under Rule 12(b)(6). Shane, 213 F.3d at 115. Thus, if a claim is vulnerable to dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) and the Court finds that an amendment would not cure the deficiency, the request to amend will be denied.

[601]*601IV. ANALYSIS

A. Racial Harassment Claim

In Count I of her Amended Complaint, Plaintiff asserts a claim of racial harassment against Defendants under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJLAD”). Section 10:5-12(a) of the NJLAD makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an individual because of that person’s disability or race.

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221 F. Supp. 3d 596, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159315, 100 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,687, 2016 WL 6806338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nuness-v-simon-schuster-inc-njd-2016.