Gittens-Bridges v. The City of New York
| Decision Date | 30 March 2022 |
| Docket Number | 19 Civ. 272 (ER) |
| Parties | LORRAINE A. GITTENS-BRIDGES, Plaintiff, v. THE CITY OF NEW YORK; GARLAND BAR-RETO; AUDWIN PEMBERTON; NADENE PIN-NOCK; DINA SIMON; and CLAUDETTE WYNTER, in their individual capacities and as aiders and abettors, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Lorraine A. Gittens-Bridges (“Gittens”) brings this action against her employer, the City of New York (“City”) and her supervisors at the New York City Department of Correction (“DOC”), [1] Garland Barreto (“Barreto”), Audwin Pemberton (“Pemberton”), Nadene Pinnock (“Pinnock”), Dina Simon (“Simon”) and Claudette Wynter Hamilton (“Hamilton”) [2] for age discrimination and retaliation in the workplace. Before the Court is Defendants' motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Doc. 143. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is GRANTED.
The Court assumes familiarity with the facts and holdings in its June 11, 2020 opinion granting in part and denying in part Defendants' motion to dismiss the second amended complaint (“SAC”). Doc. 137. The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise indicated and are construed in favor of Gittens as the non-moving party.[3] See Nick's Garage, Inc. v. Progressive Cas. Ins. Co., 875 F.3d 107, 113 (2d Cir. 2017).
Gittens was born on July 3, 1961. Doc.187-1 (Gittens Decl.) ¶ 1. She graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Industrial and Labor Relations in 1984, and she began working for the DOC in 1986 as an office associate. Doc. 150-2 (Gittens Dep.) at 12, Doc. 145 (Def.'s 56.1) ¶ 5. Gittens has been promoted three times after taking civil service examinations, and she earned the title of associate staff analyst in 1993. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 6-8. Gittens is assigned to the DOC Operational Review Unit, and her current title is associate staff analyst. She is a member of the Organization of Staff Analysts union. Id. ¶¶ 9-11.
In 2013, Gittens' supervisor at the Operations Review Unit was Dounia Alfred. Id. ¶ 12. At that time, Garland Barreto, who is the same age as Gittens, served as the DOC Director of Personnel Operations. Id. ¶¶ 12-15. Gittens attended a meeting with Alfred and Barreto in April 2013 to discuss an assignment. Id. ¶ 17. According to Gittens, during the meeting, Alfred assaulted her by violently shaking her by the arms, and Barreto did nothing to intervene even though Gittens screamed for help.[4] Doc. 150-2 at 162-63. Barreto did not take any corrective actions after the incident. Id. at 163-64. A week after that meeting, Gittens went to the hospital and was hospitalized for depression from approximately late April to early May 2013. She also filed a police report, but the police did not contact her after she filed the report. Id. at 164-67.
In approximately August 2014, Simon began working at the DOC. She had previously worked as the Director of Human Resources (“HR”) in the City Comptroller's Office. Doc. 151-1 (Simon Dep.) at 20-21. In September 2014, she officially started as the Deputy Commissioner of HR, which role she held until October 2015. Doc 145 ¶¶ 27-29. From October 2015 to January 2016, she served as Acting First Deputy Commissioner, and in January 2016, she was promoted to First Deputy Commissioner. Id. ¶ 181; Doc. 148 (Simon Decl.) ¶ 2. Simon was on leave from the DOC from November 2016 to July 2020.[5] Docs. 145 ¶ 207, 148 ¶ 2, 151-1 at 88.
According to Simon's testimony, one of her goals as Deputy Commissioner of HR was “to build a recruitment unit that can recruit corrections officers, ” because the agency had over 3, 000 vacant staff positions. Doc. 151-1 at 40-41. She testified that at the time she began working in HR, the department was not functioning well in hiring, recruiting, processing paychecks, etc., and so she sought to hire staff to execute her vision for the department. Id. at 41-42. At around the same time, the DOC received three years' funding from the Mayor's Office to establish a recruitment unit. Id. at 42.
As of September 9, 2014, when Simon began working as Deputy Commissioner of HR, Gittens wrote that her job duties were: (1) DOC career counselor; (2) drafting and submitting summaries of first step disciplinary conferences for non-uniform DOC employees who had been arrested; and (3) special projects. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 31-32. Based on feedback from Patricia LeGoff, DOC Assistant Commissioner of Equal Employment Opportunity, and Maria Guccione, Director of Labor Relations, Simon determined that Gittens was not effectively serving as career counselor and that she was not timely completing the first step summaries. Id. ¶¶ 33-34, 40-41; Doc. 151-1 at 120-22. Simon removed the responsibility for first step conferences from Gittens, instead creating new a position to oversee the conferences, for which she hired Melissa Andre, an attorney with experience in labor relations. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 35-36. Simon does not have a direct relationship with Andre but is friends with Andre's sister.[6] Id. ¶¶ 37-39. Simon removed Gittens from the career counseling role and replaced her with Carolyn Maraj, who had a master's degree in business administration. Id. ¶¶ 42-44.
After Simon joined the DOC, the remaining Individual Defendants joined the HR Department. Simon interviewed and hired Pemberton as the Director of Payroll, Timekeeping, and Benefits in March 2015. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 86-90; Doc. 150-3 (Pemberton Dep.) at 16. Pemberton was born in 1962. Doc. 145 ¶ 211. Simon testified that she did not know Pemberton before he was hired to work at the DOC; he had worked at several other City agencies since 1984. Id. ¶ 89; Doc. 150-3 at 12-19. Hamilton, who was born in 1961, was hired as Assistant Commissioner of HR Operations and began working for the DOC in September 2015. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 79, 82-84. Hamilton had previously held a similar position at the City's Administration for Children's Services (“ACS”). Id. ¶¶ 80-81. When Hamilton began working at the DOC, she directly supervised Pemberton and Barreto. Id. ¶ 83. In January 2016, when Simon was promoted, Pinnock replaced Simon as DOC Deputy Commissioner of HR. Id. ¶ 181. Before that, from 2009 to 2016, she had served as DOC Deputy General Counsel. Id. ¶ 182.
The DOC, and particularly the HR Department, posted several job openings in 2014 and 2015. Gittens applied for many of the new openings, but she was not selected for any of them. In October 2014, Gittens applied for the Director of Recruiting position. She was interviewed by Maraj in November 2014. Id. ¶¶ 45-46. Maraj's interview evaluation noted that Gittens had inadequate managerial and supervisory skills. Doc. 150-13. Furthermore, Simon testified that she did not believe Gittens' résumé was accurate, because as of fall 2014, Gittens was not performing many of the duties she had listed on it. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 48-51. Lakisha Grant, who was born in 1971 and who according to her application materials had a master's degree in HR management, was selected for the position. Id. ¶¶ 52-54. Simon testified that she was not related to or friends with Grant, but that she knew Grant had worked at the City's Department of Citywide Administrative Services (“DCAS”).[7] Id. ¶ 55; Doc. 151-1 at 150-52.
In late October 2014, the Recruiting Manager position was posted with two available openings, and Gittens applied for the position. Docs. 145 ¶¶ 56-57, 150-17. She was not selected for either position. Diane Crotti, who was born in 1957, was selected for one of the positions, and Chikera Beckford, who was born in 1977 and who according to her application had prior experience as a supervisor in HR recruitment and employee relations, was selected for the other. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 58-61. Beckford was not related to or a friend of Simon, although Simon knew her through her previous work at DCAS.[8] Id. ¶ 63; Doc. 151-1 at 150-51.
In November 2014, Gittens applied for the Project Manager/Lead Analyst position. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 67-68. That position was ultimately never filled and was later reposted as a Computer Specialist (Software) position. Gittens did not apply for the Computer Specialist position. Id. ¶¶ 69-70; Doc. 149 (Hamilton Decl.) ¶ 10.[9] Glenn Yarris applied and was selected for the position.[10] Doc. 145 ¶ 71.
In late December 2014, the Project Manager/HR Organizational Learning and Development position was posted, and Gittens applied for the position in early January 2015. Id. ¶¶ 72-73. She was not selected for the position. A contemporaneous email from DOC employee Christine Allen, one of Simon's reports, to Simon stated that Gittens did not have the required training or project management experience and that her application was a “time waster.”[11] Docs. 145 ¶ 73, 150-27, 151-1 at 28. Geraldine Penn, who was born in 1964, was selected for the position. Doc. 145 ¶¶ 74-76. According to Penn's application, she had previously served as Deputy Director of Workforce Development Division at the City's Human Resources Administration (“HRA”), where she administered and planned yearly training sessions for over 15, 000 staff.[12] Id. ¶ 75.
In March 2015, the Assistant Commissioner of HR Operations position was posted. Id. ¶ 77. Gittens applied for the position in April 2015 but was not selected. Id. ¶ 78. Hamilton-who, like Gittens, was born in 1961-was hired instead. Id. ¶¶ 79, 84. According to Hamilton's résumé, she had a master's degree in HR management and had served as Assistant Commissioner in the Office of Personnel Services at ACS. Id. ¶¶ 79-81. Hamilton...
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