Price v. Greenspan

374 F. Supp. 2d 177, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12316, 2005 WL 1492201
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJune 22, 2005
DocketCivil A. 04-973 (RCL)
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 374 F. Supp. 2d 177 (Price v. Greenspan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Price v. Greenspan, 374 F. Supp. 2d 177, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12316, 2005 WL 1492201 (D.D.C. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

LAMBERTH, District Judge.

Before the court is defendant’s motion [10] to dismiss or for summary judgment.' Plaintiff John Price, a 53-year-old white male alleges that his employer, defendant Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Agency”), illegally discriminated and retaliated against him on the basis of. his age, sex, and race. Plaintiffs. complaint presents four counts; Count I alleges discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (“Title VII”); Count II alleges discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”); Count III alleges *180 retaliation under Title VII; and Count IV alleges retaliation under ADEA.

Also before the court is plaintiffs motion [22] to stay consideration of defendant’s summary judgment motion for the purpose of permitting discovery. Plaintiff argues that he has not had sufficient opportunity for discovery, making it unfair to require him to produce, at this time, evidence in response to defendant’s summary judgment motion.

For the following reasons, the court will deny plaintiffs motion for further discovery, dismiss the retaliation charges, Counts III and IV, for failure to comply with pertinent statutes of limitations periods, and will grant summary judgment to defendant on the remaining counts.

I. LEGAL STANDARD

A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim or for lack of subject matter jurisdiction should not be granted “unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Flynn v. Veazey Constr. Corp., 310 F.Supp.2d 186, 189-90 (D.D.C.2004). In reviewing a motion to dismiss, the Complaint’s factual allegations must be presumed true and all reasonable inferences drawn in plaintiffs favor; however, the court need not “accept legal conclusions cast in the form of factual allegations.” Kowal v. MCI Communications Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C.Cir.1994).

Defendant has submitted evidence with its motion; therefore, the court, to the extent it considers facts outside of the complaint, will treat defendant’s motion as one for summary judgment. See Rann v. Chao, 346 F.3d 192, 194 (D.C.Cir.2003). Summary judgment is appropriate when the motion papers, affidavits, and other submitted evidence demonstrate that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Whether a fact is “material” is determined in light of the applicable substantive law invoked by the action. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In light of the applicable substantive law, a “genuine issue of material fact” is a fact that is determinative of a claim or defense, and therefore, affects the outcome of the case. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548; Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating that no genuine issues of material fact are in dispute. Upon such a showing, the burden then shifts to the non-moving party to demonstrate that genuine issues of material fact are in dispute. The Court is precluded from weighing evidence or finding disputed facts and must draw all inferences and resolve all doubts in favor of the non-moving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio, 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff has been employed as a Mainframe Systems Manager, FR-28, in the Agency’s Information Technology Division («IT”) sjnce i9go_ Plaintiff alleges that around 1996, Alice Rivlin, Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, noted a low percentage of minorities and women in senior Agency positions and that the Board responded with a directive, an “Upward Mobility Program,” to hire and promote more minorities and women at the expense of white males over the age of 40 who had more tenure, skills, and experience. (Comply 19.) To facilitate promotion of minorities and women, the *181 Agency allegedly began transferring work away from white men over 40 so that minorities and women would have greater access to career advancement opportunities. Additionally, “[t]he agency justified its promotion of minorities and women by manipulating Performance Management Policy (‘PMP’) evaluation ratings for white males over the age of 40.” and, moreover, instituted rating quotas. (Comp^ 20.)

Marianne Emerson, plaintiffs supervisor in IT, has allegedly implemented the Agency directive to hire and promote more minorities and women. When two candidates were “pretty comparable” in five evaluative criteria, Emerson would allegedly “give slightly greater weight” to the minority candidate. (Comply 15.) Before Emerson, Richard Stevens supervised plaintiff and allegedly implemented Agency policies favoring minorities and women from 1999-2002 and Steven Malphrus did likewise from 1992-1999 (29-30)

Plaintiff specifically alleges that he was wrongfully passed over for promotions on several occasions. In 1997 and 1998, for example, the Agency transferred career advancement opportunities from plaintiff to a female coworker, Sue Marcyz, who was later promoted while plaintiff has remained at the same level. (Comply 12-13.)

In response to this alleged discrimination by the Agency, plaintiff filed a formal EEO complaint on March 15, 2001 (“First EEO Complaint”) alleging that the Agency discriminated against him on the basis of race, sex, and age through its pattern and practice of underrating the performance of white males over 40 with the intent or effect of wrongfully favoring females and minorities in career advancement and benefits. 1 The complaint also alleged that the February 6, 2001 reorganization of IT disparately impacted white males over the age of 40. Finally, the complaint alleged that as part of that reorganization, the Agency promoted two minority employees to Assistant Director positions over equally or more qualified white male employees, including plaintiff.

After filing the First EEO Complaint, the Agency, according to plaintiff, began to retaliate. After March 15, 2001, Emerson, plaintiffs supervisor, began to blame plaintiff for delays in implementing a new program.

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Bluebook (online)
374 F. Supp. 2d 177, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12316, 2005 WL 1492201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/price-v-greenspan-dcd-2005.