Saldivar v. Cadena

622 F. Supp. 949, 39 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 836, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13425
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedNovember 27, 1985
Docket84-C-685
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 622 F. Supp. 949 (Saldivar v. Cadena) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Saldivar v. Cadena, 622 F. Supp. 949, 39 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 836, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13425 (W.D. Wis. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

CRABB, Chief Judge.

This is a civil action in which plaintiff seeks to obtain monetary, equitable, and injunctive relief based on alleged discriminatory actions violative of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985(3), and 1986, and the Wisconsin Constitution. This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). The case is before the court on defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s amended complaint or portions of certain causes of action and to strike certain references from plaintiff’s amended complaint.

Taking the allegations of the complaint as true, and for the sole purpose of deciding this motion, I find the following facts.

FACTS

Plaintiff is a physically handicapped Hispanic woman. She has been an employee of the State of Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations since 1972. At all times relevant to this *953 action defendant Cadena has been director of the Bureau of Migrant Services within the Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations.

From 1978 until October 1980, plaintiff was employed as a Job Service Specialist IV in the Bureau of Migrant Services. During this period, defendant was plaintiffs immediate supervisor. Defendant subjected plaintiff to continual harassment in the form of abusive comments about plaintiffs sex, race, and handicap, and mimicked her handicapped condition. Defendant spread rumors about the sex lives of women who worked at the Bureau of Migrant Services, telling women that if they wanted to keep their jobs they would have to accede to his sexual advances. These abuses interfered unreasonably with plaintiffs work performance and created an intimidating, hostile, and offensive work environment for plaintiff.

In 1978, plaintiff participated in activities opposing discriminatory policies of the Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations. Plaintiffs activities included attendance at meetings and public demonstrations, letter writing, and fundraising. A number of employees who were discharged subsequently brought suit against the department and eventually entered into a consent degree which included a prohibition against the department for retaliating against “individuals who participated on behalf” of the discharged employees. During this period of time, plaintiff associated with individuals such as Cathy Ramsfield and Alcario Samudio, who were among the most active of these demonstrators. Defendant knew of plaintiffs activities and warned plaintiff that her job was endangered by her association with the persons protesting the bureau’s actions. He also attempted to drive her from her job by subjecting her to unwarranted supervisory actions because of her associations and her activities in support of these people. Defendant acted in violation of the consent decree entered into by the department and the discharged employees.

From October, 1980 to the present, plaintiff has been employed in the Job Services Division, Bureau of Employment Programs, as a Job Service Specialist IV, working as an alien interstate clearance coordinator. In December, 1983, defendant interviewed plaintiff for a position in the Bureau of Migrant Services, but he did not select plaintiff for the job, which would have been a promotion for her, although she was more qualified than the man who was hired.

Defendant’s failure to promote plaintiff as well as his verbal abuse of plaintiff, in conspiracy with and with the knowledge of unknown and unnamed others was in retaliation for plaintiff’s advocacy of equal protection for members of the Brown race, female sex, and handicapped class, because of plaintiff’s association with and public support for the individuals protesting discrimination by the Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations and because defendant intended to discriminate against plaintiff because of her sex. Through neglect, the Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations permitted defendant’s illegal actions to occur.

OPINION

Defendant has moved to dismiss plaintiff’s amended complaint, in whole or in part, on five grounds: (1) all claims which arose more than three years prior to the filing of the initial complaint are barred by the statute of limitations; (2) this court lacks jurisdiction to hear the pendent state claims because plaintiff has failed to plead compliance with the notice of claim requirements of Wis.Stat. § 893.82; (3) the second through eighth causes of action in the amended complaint fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985(3) and 1986; (4) plaintiff does not have standing to assert a claim based on the consent decree and defendant is not bound by the consent decree; and (5) relief in the forms of promotion and pay differential is not obtainable from defendant. Also, defendant has moved to withdraw his request for a jury trial and to *954 strike plaintiffs request for a jury trial as untimely and has moved to strike from paragraph 55 of the amended complaint all references to lawsuits brought by Gustavo Seminario and Ana Maria Schiltz, which have been settled by agreement.

1. Statute of Limitations

Defendant contends that the three year limitation in Wis.Stat. § 893.54 precludes plaintiff from bringing claims that arose more than three years prior to the filing of her original complaint. A limitations defense may be raised and acted upon on a motion to dismiss the complaint where the allegations of the complaint are definite enough to permit consideration of a statute of limitations defense. Zielke v. Wausau Memorial Hospital, 529 F.Supp. 571, 574 (W.D.Wis.1982). In this case, the amended complaint alleges that defendant Cadena became director of the Bureau of Migrant Services in the “summer” of 1978, that all acts allegedly undertaken by Cadena occurred while he was director of the Bureau of Migrant Services, that plaintiff Saldivar was harassed by defendant from “1978 until October, 1980,” and that defendant interviewed plaintiff for a position in December 1983 and denied plaintiff the position. Plaintiffs complaint was filed on August 27, 1984. Considered in the context of the complaint as a whole, these allegations are sufficiently definite to permit consideration of a statute of limitations defense.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
622 F. Supp. 949, 39 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 836, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/saldivar-v-cadena-wiwd-1985.