Congress v. Dist. of Columbia

• Decision Date: 18 December 2020
• Docket Number: Case No. 17-cv-907 (CRC)
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
• Parties: Trina CONGRESS, Plaintiff, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Defendant.

514 F.Supp.3d 1

Trina CONGRESS, Plaintiff,

v.DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Defendant.

Case No. 17-cv-907 (CRC)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed December 18, 2020

Jeremy Greenberg, Clark Law Group, PLLC, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Michelle Guyette Hersh, Adam Daniel, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER, United States District Judge

This employment discrimination case rests on an unusual set of facts. A 2013 District of Columbia Public Schools ("DCPS") investigation found that a school employee, Trina Congress, improperly claimed D.C. residency when registering her daughter at a D.C. public high school. Congress was charged non-resident tuition for the relevant enrollment period as a result of the transgression but continued in her job as a teacher's aide at a local middle school. Some nineteen months later, soon after Congress complained to school system officials that her principal had unfairly denied her requests for leave stemming from a purported disability, the residency fraud investigation was picked back up by a different office within DCPS. This second inquiry, which found a longer period of fraud, culminated in Congress's termination. She sued. Following responsive motions practice and discovery, the District has moved for summary judgment on the two remaining claims in the case: discrimination and retaliation under the federal Rehabilitation Act.

The Court will grant summary judgment for the District on Congress's discrimination claim but not on her retaliation claim. As to the former, the record shows that DCPS based its decision to terminate Congress on its well-founded belief that she engaged in multiple instances of residency fraud and there is insufficient record evidence to suggest that the District's explanation for the termination was a pretext for disability discrimination. As to Congress's retaliation claim, DCPS's decision to re-investigate the residency fraud allegations against Congress after a nineteen-month period of inactivity was an adverse employment action because it threatened serious consequences and led to Congress's termination. While the District maintains that the extended lapse between the two investigations resulted from turnover of personnel within DCPS, evidence in the record permits an inference that later investigation was put into motion in retaliation for Congress's recent complaints about her principal's hostility towards her requests for disability-related accommodations. Congress may therefore present her retaliation claim to a jury.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

1. Congress's hiring, transfer, and reported interactions with Principal Zaki regarding her disability

DCPS hired Ms. Congress as special education teacher's aide at Kramer Middle School ("Kramer") in December 2011. Def.’s Statement of Material Facts ¶1; Congress Dep. at 13. As part of the hiring process, Congress submitted an I-9 employment eligibility form and a copy of her driver's license which both listed a Maryland home address. Def.’s Mem. Supp. Summ. J. ("MSJ") Ex. 4, 5.

In 2012, Congress was transferred to Kelly Miller Middle School ("Kelly Miller"), where Abdullah Zaki served as Principal. Def.’s Statement of Material Facts ¶7; see Pl.’s Statement of Material Facts ¶22. Congress testified in her deposition that she met with Zaki shortly after starting. Congress Dep. at 26:19–30:9. In that meeting, Congress, who suffers from nerve damage stemming from a car accident, claims to have informed Zaki of various impairments arising from her condition, including difficulty climbing stairs and limited mobility. Id. at 26:2–27:22, 28:18–29:4. She also reportedly expressed concerns to Zaki about her capacity to physically intervene while working with emotionally disturbed students and about the improper use of the handicap parking space at Kelly Miller by non-disabled employees. Id. at 36:3–22. Congress recounted several additional meetings with Zaki during her tenure at Kelly Miller concerning her disabilities and need for accommodations. Id. at 34:20–35:15. She also recalled that Zaki denied numerous written leave requests that she submitted to attend doctor's appointments, although the requests themselves are not in the present summary judgment record. See id. at 102:14–104:22. Congress further testified that Zaki frequently disparaged her leave requests, noting once, for example, that he "did [not] have room for people like [Congress]." Id. at 139:19–140:10. Congress understood these statements to be references to her medical conditions. Id. at 140:7–10.

2. Congress's enrollment of her daughter in a District public school

In early 2012, Congress and her family found themselves in a dispute with a woman named Rita Whatley. While the precise nature of the dust-up is not clear to the Court, it was serious enough that Congress's daughter, W.S., was attacked and required hospitalization. Id. at 62:1–6. On February 23, 2012, Congress enrolled W.S. as a student at Anacostia Senior High School ("Anacostia" or "Anacostia High"), a District public school. See Def.’s MSJ Ex. 7 at 1. Congress explains that she did so in order to protect her daughter from Whatley. See, e.g., Def.’s MSJ Ex. 22 at 6. Congress re-enrolled W.S. at Anacostia in September 2012 for the following schoolyear. Def.’s MSJ Ex. 9 at 1. During the September enrollment process, Congress submitted several pieces of documentation, including a signed "Annual Student Enrollment Profile," which listed Congress's sister's D.C. address as her own. Id. At another point during the September enrollment, an Anacostia official completed a "DC Residency Verification Form" which also bore Congress's sister's D.C. address and indicated that Congress had submitted a pay stub reflecting that address. Def.’s MSJ. Ex. 11 at 1. The pay stub in fact belonged to Congress's sister. See Pl.’s Opp. at 14. Later that month, Congress filed for a temporary restraining order against Whatley, which listed Congress's home address as Oxon Hill, Maryland. Def.’s MSJ Ex. 10 at 1.

3. The initial residency fraud investigation

In December 2012, Whatley lodged a complaint with DCPS's Student Residency Office—which investigates residency fraud by parents of children enrolled in District public schools, Wynn Dep. at 10:6–12:7, 13:20–14:14—claiming that Congress was not a D.C. resident. Def.’s MSJ Ex. 12 at 1–2. Investigator Resa Wynn received the complaint in early January 2013 and informed both Congress and Zaki of the investigation. See Def.’s MSJ Ex. 17 at 1–2; Pl.’s Opp. Ex. G. at 1; Congress Dep. at 57:18–21. During an ensuing interview with Wynn, Congress admitted that she received a housing subsidy from Prince George's County in Maryland which required residency in that county. Def.’s MSJ Ex. 8 at 18:30–19:29; Def.’s Statement of Material Facts ¶24; cf. Pl.’s Statement of Material Facts ¶24. As a result of her investigation, Wynn concluded that Congress and her daughter were not District residents between August 2012 and February 2013. Def.’s MSJ Ex. 19 at 1. Upon receiving the investigation findings, Congress promptly removed her daughter from Anacostia. Id.; Def.’s MSJ Ex. 7 at 1. DCPS subsequently issued Congress a letter assessing the amount of nonresident tuition owed to the District at $6,077.00. Def.’s MSJ Ex. 19 at 1.

Soon after receiving Whatley's complaint against Congress in January 2013, Wynn brought the complaint to the attention of officials in DCPS's Labor Management and Employee Relations ("LMER") office, which handles misconduct complaints against teachers and certain other categories of DCPS employees. Def.’s MSJ Ex. 15 at 1; Wynn Dep. at 14:20–15:4, 29:3–17. Anthony Hinnant, the LMER official who assigned investigations at that time, instructed lead investigator Wanda Malloy to "get with [Wynn]" because LMER "may want to open an investigation on [Congress]." Def.’s MSJ Ex. 16 at 1. According to Wynn, however, Malloy never followed up with her about the matter and no further action was taken at that time. Wynn Dep. at 30:20–31:9, 49:7–12. Malloy subsequently left the office and DCPS. Id. at 28:18–22, 31:10–32:7. Her position was filled by Daniel Ellis until July 2014, at which point Robert Thomas took over. Thomas Dep. at 11:2–13:2.

4. The LMER investigation

Meanwhile, Congress continued working as a special education teacher's aide at Kelly Miller. In early September 2014, Congress submitted a written complaint to LMER alleging that Principal Zaki was retaliating against her, although the version of the complaint that Congress included as an exhibit to her summary judgment motion does not provide details as to the nature of the alleged retaliation. Pl.’s Opp. Ex. L at 1. LMER representative Erica Smith emailed with Congress regarding her complaints, asking whether Congress had received any more "information from [Zaki] about why he was not approving" one of her leave requests. Pl.’s’ Opp. Ex. M at 1. On the afternoon of September 17, 2014, Congress replied that she was having "personal problem[s]" with Zaki. Id. The reply raised concerns that Congress was being asked to cover other teachers’ classes, apparently in violation of instructions Congress had received from LMER. Id. Approximately two hours later, Wynn, the DCPS investigator who conducted the 2013 residency fraud investigation, sent an email to Thomas forwarding her original January 2013 correspondence to LMER regarding Whatley's complaint against Congress, noting "[h]ere is the case I was referring to." Def.’s MSJ Ex. 21 at 1. Wynn added that she did not "think it was ever investigated" and that she had "whatever additional information is needed in the file." Id. LMER eventually assigned Steven Lee to conduct an investigation. See Def.’s MSJ Ex. 23.

On October 9, 2014 Congress participated in a mediation session with Smith and Zaki regarding her complaints about Zaki, including his alleged...