Chaplin v. Consol. Edison Co. of New York, Inc.

• Decision Date: 13 February 1986
• Docket Number: No. 79 Civ. 730(MEL).,79 Civ. 730(MEL).
• Parties: Phyllis CHAPLIN, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated; and Epilepsy Foundation of America, Plaintiffs, v. CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY OF NEW YORK, INC.; Charles Luce, individually and in his capacity as Chairman of The Board of Trustees of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Arthur Hauspurg, individually and in his capacity as President of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Regina Frederickson, individually and in her capacity as Director of Personnel of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Thomas M. O'Sullivan, individually and in his capacity as Assistant Director of Personnel of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; John Holbrook, individually and in his capacity as a Personnel Representative of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Herman Halpern, individually and in his capacity as Medical Director of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; and Jane Doctor and John Doctor, individually and in their capacities as unknown and unnamed physicians of the Medical Department of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

628 F. Supp. 143

Phyllis CHAPLIN, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated; and Epilepsy Foundation of America, Plaintiffs, v. CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY OF NEW YORK, INC.; Charles Luce, individually and in his capacity as Chairman of The Board of Trustees of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Arthur Hauspurg, individually and in his capacity as President of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Regina Frederickson, individually and in her capacity as Director of Personnel of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Thomas M. O'Sullivan, individually and in his capacity as Assistant Director of Personnel of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; John Holbrook, individually and in his capacity as a Personnel Representative of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Herman Halpern, individually and in his capacity as Medical Director of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; and Jane Doctor and John Doctor, individually and in their capacities as unknown and unnamed physicians of the Medical Department of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., Defendants.

No. 79 Civ. 730(MEL).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

February 13, 1986.

John E. Kirklin, Director of Litigation, Civil Appeals & Law Reform Unit, The Legal Aid Soc., New York City, Jeffrey G. Abrandt, Attorney-in-Charge (Jonathan Ben-Asher, of counsel), Office for the Aging, Brooklyn, N.Y., for plaintiffs.

Ernest J. Williams, New York City, for defendants; Barry S. Goldstein, Geraldine O'Donnell, of counsel.

LASKER, District Judge.

In this action based on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("the Act"), 29 U.S.C. § 794, Phyllis Chaplin, on behalf of herself and all others who, like her, suffer from epilepsy, and the Epilepsy Foundation of America, seek compensatory and injunctive relief from Consolidated Edison Company of New York and various employees (collectively referred to as "Con Ed"), based on Con Ed's refusal to hire Ms. Chaplin and other qualified job applicants. As originally filed, the complaint alleged a cause of action based on Section 503 of the Act, as well as a cause of action based on Section 504. However, in an opinion reported at 579 F.Supp. 1470 (S.D.N.Y.1984), this Court granted Con Ed's motion to dismiss the Section 503 claims, and with regard to the Section 504 claims, granted plaintiffs' motion to compel discovery on the subject of the nature of the federal assistance received by Con Ed and the way in which that assistance is used in Con Ed's operations.

After complying with plaintiffs' discovery requests, Con Ed moves for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. For the reasons set forth below, Con Ed's motion is granted.

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Section 504 of the Act provides in pertinent part:

No otherwise qualified handicapped individual ... shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance....

As the language of the statute makes clear, a prerequisite to the application of this provision is that the program or activity from which plaintiff complains it has been discriminatorily excluded be the recipient of federal financial assistance.

Ms. Chaplin applied for a customer field representative position with Con Ed in August of 1978 without being referred by any outside agency. At that time, Con Ed's Specialized Training Department was under contract with the federal government through CETA (Comprehensive Employment Training Act) and WIN (Work Incentive Program) to conduct training programs. These programs were under the administrative control of several local and state agencies. Con Ed would train candidates that were referred to it by those local agencies and then its Specialized Training Department would be reimbursed for the costs incurred in implementing the program. The parties are in basic agreement as to these facts. It is only their legal implications that are in dispute.

Plaintiffs argue that the CETA and WIN funds constitute a benefit not only to the program or activity at Con Ed that directly received them (the Specialized Training Department) but also to all units or programs which subsequently employed any of the people trained in the federally funded program. Plaintiffs contend that when Ms. Chaplin was turned down, because of her handicap, for a position as a customer field representative, the division or program that turned her down (Department of Division Operations) was the recipient of federal financial assistance in the form of the benefit of having employees who were trained at federal expense.

In the alternative, plaintiffs argue that the tax credits received by Con Ed for capital expenditures on tangible property constitute federal financial assistance to all programs and divisions within the organization, since all divisions purchase items subject to the credit.

Con Ed responds that only the training division receives federal assistance under the CETA and WIN programs, and since Ms. Chaplin did not apply to the training division through a local agency referral, but only applied through ordinary, off-the-street channels for employment and not training, the federal financial assistance Con Ed receives is insufficient to support a Section 504 claim. Con Ed further argues that the program-specific nature of Section 504 renders it inconceivable that an across-the-board investment tax credit is sufficient to trigger Section 504 coverage.

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In Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U.S. 555, 104 S.Ct. 1211, 79 L.Ed.2d 516 (1984), the Supreme Court addressed, in the context of Title IX, protection against discrimination in education, the issue of what constitutes a "program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." In that case, several students in a private college received direct grants which they used to pay the college tuition. The Court held that such...