Spencer v. Banco Real, S.A.

87 F.R.D. 739, 23 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1558, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17252, 24 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 31,296
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 25, 1980
DocketNo. 79 Civ. 6318
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 87 F.R.D. 739 (Spencer v. Banco Real, S.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spencer v. Banco Real, S.A., 87 F.R.D. 739, 23 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1558, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17252, 24 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 31,296 (S.D.N.Y. 1980).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SOFAER, District Judge:

Plaintiff brings this action against her former employer, Banco Real S.A., a corporation organized under the laws of Brazil and doing business in New York, and certain officers of the bank, alleging employment discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”). Plaintiff asserts alternative bases of federal jurisdiction under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) and the International Banking Act of 1978, as amended, 12 U.S.C. §§ 3102, 3106a. Defendant has moved to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, on the ground that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, and pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), on the ground that the complaint fails to state a cause of action.

On or about August 9, 1979, plaintiff filed discrimination charges against the defendant bank with the New York State Division of Human Rights (“Human Rights Division”), as well as with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), contending that she was the victim of sex discrimination in connection with her training and opportunity for advancement. As required by Section 706(c), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(c), the EEOC deferred filing this charge for sixty days, pending investigation and conciliation efforts in the state agency.

In November 1979, while plaintiff’s discrimination charge was still pending before the Human Rights Division, defendant discharged her, allegedly for wrongfully taking certain confidential bank documents without authorization. On November 9, 1979, defendant instituted a state court re-plevin action to recover the documents allegedly taken. Plaintiff denied having taken the documents and, on or about November 13, 1979, she filed two additional charges with the Human Rights Division and the EEOC, claiming that both her discharge and the state court replevin action were in retaliation for the exercise of her rights under the Constitution and Title VII.

On November 15, 1979, two days after filing her retaliation charges, plaintiff removed the state replevin action to this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441, 1443(1), claiming that the state action was brought in retaliation for her charges of employment discrimination. Relying upon City of Greenwood v. Peacock, 384 U.S. 808, 86 S.Ct. 1800, 16 L.Ed.2d 944 (1966), this Court on January 21, 1980 granted defendant’s motion to remand the replevin action. Irrespective of the merits of plaintiff’s claims, removal was clearly inappropriate.

Meanwhile, on November 26, 1979, while defendant’s motion to remand was pending, [741]*741plaintiff instituted the present action. The complaint is based on the initial charge of employment discrimination filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights in August 1979 (and referred to the EEOC sixty days thereafter), as well as on the two charges of retaliation filed in November 1979 and still before the Human Rights Division.1 At the time that the present complaint was filed, no right-to-sue notice had been issued by the EEOC; in fact, only 49 days had passed from the day on which the original charges were filed with the EEOC.

On December 14, 1979, plaintiff’s attorney wrote to the EEOC to request early issuance of notices of right to sue, stating without explanation that “actions by respondent have made voluntary settlement virtually impossible and necessitate the prompt institution of an action in federal court ...” On or about January 11, 1980, after the mandatory 60-day period for state agency review of the retaliation claim had expired, defendant received an EEOC notice of the filing of plaintiff’s retaliation charges, as required under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(b). On the same day, the EEOC also issued a right-to-sue notice with respect to plaintiff’s August 9 charge, although at that time only approximately 100 days had passed from the day on which this charge was filed with the EEOC. Five days later, on January 16, 1980, the EEOC issued a right-to-sue notice with respect to plaintiff’s retaliation charges. At that time, only five days had passed since the retaliation charges had been filed with the EEOC.

Defendant promptly wrote to the EEOC, objecting to the premature issuance of the right-to-sue notices. On January 23,1980, Arthur Stern, Assistant Director of the EEOC New York District Office, responded that the notices were issued prematurely because “processing [plaintiff’s] charge to conclusion would not have been accomplished prior to the expiration of 180 days of its filing.”

Meanwhile, defendant sought dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint in this Court. Plaintiff, however, repeatedly requested delays. Each delay brought a change in the allegedly relevant facts; each change in the facts necessitated new legal arguments. In April 1980, plaintiff’s attorney advised the court that the EEOC wished to file a brief amicus curiae, addressing the propriety of issuing premature right-to-sue notices. Leave to file was granted, and on May 9 the EEOC submitted its brief together with the affidavit of Edward Mercado, Director of the EEOC New York District Office. The affidavit states that the January 11, 1980 right-to-sue letter was issued to plaintiff because “there were approximately 700 matters pending ahead of the case at bar” and “it was unlikely that the New York EEOC office could reasonably expect to complete processing of the instant case within the statutory waiting period of 180 days from the filing of the complaint.” Mercado Aff. ¶ 6.

I

Defendant’s motion to dismiss that portion of plaintiff’s claim based on 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) is clearly meritorious. The cause of action that plaintiff asserts is created by Title VII. Great American Federal Savings & Loan Association v. Novotny, 442 U.S. 366,378,99 S.Ct. 2345,2352, 60 L.Ed.2d 957 (1979) (“deprivation of a right created by Title VII cannot be the basis for a cause of action under § 1985[3]”). The complaint similarly fails to state a claim under Section 3106a of the International Banking Act. [742]*742As even plaintiff concedes, Section 3106a creates no substantive right; it simply requires foreign banks covered by the Act to comply with laws prohibiting discrimination, including Title VII. To allow plaintiff to circumvent the administrative procedures set forth in Title VII by implying a cause of action under Section 3106a would plainly contravene the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court in Novotny.

II

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87 F.R.D. 739, 23 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1558, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17252, 24 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 31,296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spencer-v-banco-real-sa-nysd-1980.