Connecticut Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Daniel Schwartz : Stamford, Hartford New Haven, CT

After an employee complains about discrimination, if an employer terminates the employee a year later, can that fact -- in and of itself -- be a sufficient grounds for a retaliation? A District Court decision released yesterday said no.

In Thornewell v. Domus Foundation, Inc.,U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Thompson dismissed outright a retaliation claim where the Plaintiff alleged only that his prior complaint was the basis for his termination a year later:

[The employee] only alleges that he “complained about the discriminatory treatment that he[experienced]” (Compl. at 7), and that he was later terminated. [The employee] alleges that the date of his last complaint was June 3, 2004 and that he was terminated as of May 1, 2005. Id. at 7, 9. Standing alone, these allegations are not sufficient to state a claim for retaliation because the alleged retaliation occurred nearly a year after the protected activity (i.e. the complaints). See Clark County School District v. Breedon, 532 U.S. 268, 273 (April 23, 2001) (per curiam), reh’g denied 533 U.S. 912 (June 11, 2001) (citations omitted) (noting that temporal proximity between an employer's knowledge of protected activity and an adverse employment action must be “very close”).

The decision is another indication that courts are starting to look for more substance in retaliation claims other than just the filing of a complaint and a termination.  The Court went on to note in the case that although the Plaintiff did allege other facts in support of his retaliation claim, he did not note the dates of those; thus, the court did not view such allegations as relevant to the inquiry.

For employment practitioners and companies that appear before Judge Thompson, the decision is interesting because of the judge's own statements that he disfavors dismissing employment claims on the papers. His chamber practices statement indicates that he believes that:

dispositive motions are overused. In discrimination cases, he rarely grants motions for summary judgment that dispose of the entire case.

True to his word, he refused to dismiss an accompanying Title VII discrimination claim and a disability discrimination claim.

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A few days ago, I noted that the new District Court of Connecticut website now posts the federal judge's Chambers Practices online.  For employment law practitioners, two of the judge's chambers practices refer to the judge's views on discrimination cases and the use or overuse of dispositive motions on such claims.

Judge Alvin Thompson and Judge Christopher F. Droney each take a different perspective that is useful to keep in mind when practicing before that judge.

Judge Thompson believes that:

dispositive motions are overused. In discrimination cases, he rarely grants motions for summary judgment that dispose of the entire case. Judge Thompson has been experimenting with pre-argument conferences for dispositive motions. He finds that conferences of this sort encourage discussion regarding the handling of a particular case. He uses the conferences when he sees something in a case that needs to be resolved to move the case forward and promote efficiency. For example, when he receives a motion to amend a complaint he may call in the parties to try to reach an agreement on how to simplify the complaint and then rule orally on the motion. If a motion to dismiss is filed, Judge Thompson may call in the parties for a conference to see if the issues can be resolved by an amended complaint.

 Judge Droney, on the other hand, takes a differing view:

Judge Droney does not require pre-filing conferences. He believes that there has been an increase in the number of dispositive motions because of the nature of the cases filed in federal court. In employment cases, for example, many summary judgment motions and motions to dismiss are being filed. He believes that most of these motions have merit and need to be considered by the court.

(For the record, the chambers practices of other district court judges are silent on this topic.) 

Obviously, each judge considers each case on the merits and practitioners shouldn't read too much into these comments. Lawyers have long known which judges might be more receptive to summary judgment motions than others. 

But for employment law practitioners, this example confirms that even in a small state like Connecticut, judges comes from different perspectives when deciding such cases.  For clients with cases in the courts, finding lawyers who are familiar with the judges' perspectives can help shape the strategy of the case as well.

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