Chien v. Sullivan

• Decision Date: 25 April 2018
• Docket Number: Case No. 16–cv–01583 (APM)
• Citation: 313 F.Supp.3d 1
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
• Parties: Josephine CHIEN, Plaintiff, v. John J. SULLIVAN, acting Secretary of State, Defendant.

313 F.Supp.3d 1

Josephine CHIEN, Plaintiff,
v.
John J. SULLIVAN, acting Secretary of State,¹ Defendant.

Case No. 16–cv–01583 (APM)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed April 25, 2018

313 F.Supp.3d 4

Arinderjit Dhali, Dhali PLLC, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Daniel Patrick Schaefer, U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Amit P. Mehta, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Josephine Chien is employed by the U.S. Department of State as an Assistant Regional Security Officer. Based on events that allegedly began with her initial assignment in the Foreign Service in 2010 and continued during subsequent assignments in various U.S. offices and embassies abroad, Plaintiff filed this lawsuit against Defendant Secretary of State under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, alleging race and sex discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliation. Several motions to dismiss and amended complaints later, Defendant now moves for partial dismissal of Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the reasons stated below, the court denies Defendant's Second Renewed Motion for Partial Dismissal.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

Plaintiff Josephine Chien, a Taiwanese–American woman, has been employed by the U.S. Department of State since 2009 and currently serves as an Assistant Regional Security Officer ("ARSO") within the Foreign Service. Pl.'s Second Am. Compl., ECF No. 19 [hereinafter SAC], ¶¶ 1, 9; see Def.'s Second Renewed Mot. for Partial Dismissal, ECF No. 21, Mem. in Supp. of Def.'s Second Renewed Mot. for Partial Dismissal, ECF No. 21–1 [hereinafter Def.'s 2d Renewed Mot.], at 2. Because Plaintiff's allegations of discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliation span over six years during her various Foreign Service assignments, and only some of those allegations are relevant to Defendant's present motion,² the court provides only a brief summary of Plaintiff's employment history here, referring to her specific allegations in further detail below as necessary.

Los Angeles Assignment: In March 2010, Plaintiff was assigned to a satellite office of State's Los Angeles Field Office. See SAC ¶ 10. While in L.A., Plaintiff was supervised by Michael Lodi, who Plaintiff alleges discriminated against her by frequently screaming at her in a disparaging and demoralizing manner and by refusing her training and overseas assignments requests. See id. ¶¶ 10–12. She also alleges that Lodi retaliated against her by threatening

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to block her transfer to the main field office and by giving her an unwarranted negative performance evaluation. See id. ¶¶ 12–18. Plaintiff remained in the L.A. satellite office under Lodi's supervision until January 2011. Id. ¶¶ 15, 19.

Benghazi, Libya Assignment: After Plaintiff was transferred out of the L.A. satellite office, she received a temporary duty assignment in Benghazi, Libya in May 2011. Id. ¶ 19. Plaintiff alleges that she was the only female agent on staff in Benghazi and that her new supervisors discriminated against her by denying her duty rotations and giving male agents preferential treatment and better assignments. See id. ¶¶ 19–24. She further alleges that her male colleagues harassed and discriminated against her by making "routine and mundane requests to her on housekeeping issues." Id. ¶¶ 24–25.

Islamabad, Pakistan Assignment: In February 2012, Plaintiff was assigned as an ARSO to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, id. ¶ 26, where she remained for approximately one year, see id. ¶ 48. Plaintiff claims that she was harassed and/or discriminated and retaliated against in various ways during her assignment in Pakistan, but her allegations generally fall into one of four categories. First, Plaintiff alleges that in June 2012, her supervisor at the time, John Krajicek, reassigned to a male agent the decision-making responsibilities for one of the programs that Plaintiff was tasked with overseeing. See id. ¶¶ 28–31. Plaintiff also avers that Krajicek refused to communicate with her directly regarding her duties and programs, and that Krajicek did not do so with other agents. Id. ¶ 31.

Second, Plaintiff claims that she was "blackballed or retaliated against" after she broke a "handshake" agreement with State in April 2012 concerning an assignment to Dubai. See id. ¶¶ 49–50; see also id. ¶ 49 (explaining that Plaintiff had to negate her handshake agreement after a human resources officer informed her that the agency could not provide assistance to her then-boyfriend by including him as a member of household on the travel authorization due to Sharia law in Dubai). Plaintiff alleges that after the Dubai incident, she was not given the same opportunity as other officers when she re-bid for another foreign assignment in or around April 2012. See id. ¶¶ 52–53. In that regard, Plaintiff also contends that State imposed "a different standard for males versus females and/or ... Asians" and non-Asians. See id. ¶ 53–56. Plaintiff alleges that during the summer of 2012, when she was bidding on her next assignment to begin in 2013, she was told to apply only for domestic positions. See id. ¶¶ 45–46, 49–52. By contrast, Plaintiff says that similarly situated male agents who broke their handshake agreements still received foreign assignments. Id. ¶ 53. Relatedly, Plaintiff alleges that on at least two occasions, she was denied a foreign assignment in favor of a non-Asian man and woman, respectively, who were less senior than she was. See id. ¶¶ 54–56. In the end, Plaintiff was ultimately given a future domestic assignment in the Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations in Washington, D.C., scheduled to begin sometime after her Pakistan assignment. See id. ¶ 47.

Third, Plaintiff alleges that in January 2013, as part of her five-year background investigation update, she was interviewed by investigators about prior "hook[ ] up[s]" and her family in Taiwan. See id. ¶¶ 32–38.³ Soon thereafter, Plaintiff learned that,

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as part of the investigation, the investigators had contacted her colleagues and asked them about whether Plaintiff "had ever complained about work place harassment, a hostile work environment, discrimination or retaliation." See id. ¶ 39. Plaintiff's white male colleague, however, was not asked any such questions during his five-year background investigation update. See id. ¶ 42. Plaintiff therefore claims that the "extra scrutiny" she received was in retaliation for her protected EEO activities. Id. ¶ 43.

Finally, Plaintiff alleges that in late January 2013, about a month before she left Pakistan, her career development officer instructed her to re-bid for her next assignment because the aforementioned Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations position in Washington, D.C. had been eliminated. Id. ¶ 48. Plaintiff placed several foreign bids, but was informed that she would not receive a foreign assignment and, once again, was encouraged to consider only domestic assignments. See id. ¶¶ 48, 51. In particular, Plaintiff alleges that after the Regional Security Officer at the Embassy in Islamabad offered to call a senior career development and assignment officer about Plaintiff's bidding status, he told her that "it all came down to Dubai," id. ¶¶ 45, 48, presumably a reference to Plaintiff breaking her handshake agreement to serve in Dubai.

Washington, D.C. Assignment:⁴ Following her assignment in Pakistan, which ended in or around late February 2013, see SAC ¶ 48, Plaintiff continued to bid for "forward assignments" in foreign countries, to no avail, see id. ¶ 59. Plaintiff alleges that she applied for roughly 30 positions between June 2013 and September 2013, and that she was denied all such positions because of discrimination and retaliation. Id. ¶ 59; see id. at 13–14 (listing positions); see also id. ¶ 57 (alleging that in August 2013, after she was denied 18 foreign assignments, Plaintiff was told that "it ha[d] to do with something out of L.A.").

Jakarta, Indonesia Assignment: From September 2014 to August 2016, Plaintiff served as an ARSO in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she was supervised by Robert Castro, a Mexican–American male. See id. ¶ 60. As discussed below, the following allegations concerning Plaintiff's assignment in Jakarta led Plaintiff to file a separate administrative complaint and are generally referred to by both parties as the "new allegations" in the Second Amended Complaint.

On October 9, 2015, Plaintiff volunteered for a temporary duty assignment ("TDY") at the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia. Id. ¶¶ 61–62. Several weeks later at a staff meeting, however, Plaintiff learned that

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one of her white male colleagues received the TDY. Id. ¶ 65. Moreover, while Plaintiff applied to approximately 26 TDYs in other foreign countries during her Jakarta assignment, Plaintiff alleges that "other non-Asian and non-female ARSOs" were selected for these positions instead of her. Id. ¶¶ 66–67. Plaintiff claims that Defendant...