Gonzalez v. City of N.Y.

• Citation: 442 F.Supp.3d 665
• Decision Date: 04 March 2020
• Docket Number: 1:17-cv-6518-GHW
• Parties: Emilio GONZALEZ, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

442 F.Supp.3d 665

Emilio GONZALEZ, Plaintiff,

v.CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Defendants.

1:17-cv-6518-GHW

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

Signed March 4, 2020

Kenechukwu Chudi Okoli, Law Offices of K.C. Okoli, P.C., New York, NY, for Plaintiff.

Ivan A. Mendez, Jr., New York City Law Department, New York, NY, for Defendants.

ORDER

GREGORY H. WOODS, United States District Judge:

Plaintiff Emilio Gonzalez worked in the New York City Comptroller's Office from 2002 to 2018. In 2014, Gonzalez began to complain to his supervisors about what he perceived as corruption in the Comptroller's Office. Gonzalez was, nonetheless, promoted to Chief of the Property Damage Division in February 2015. Shortly after his promotion, Gonzalez testified that one of his supervisors told him to fire an employee in the Property Damage division, Luc Pierre, because Pierre is Black. Gonzalez refused to do so.

Gonzalez argues that his complaints about corruption and his refusal to fire Pierre inspired his supervisors to instigate a retaliatory campaign against him. Gonzalez was demoted from his position as Division Chief of Property Damage in January 2016. Gonzalez also faced disciplinary charges before the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. The administrative law judge who presided over the hearing concluded that Gonzalez was excessively absent and insubordinate after his demotion. Gonzalez was terminated from the civil service in 2018.

Gonzalez brought this lawsuit alleging that his supervisors retaliated and discriminated against him. Because Gonzalez cannot demonstrate a causal connection between his protected activity and the actions Gonzalez argues were retaliatory and because Gonzalez has not carried his burden to show that the legitimate reasons offered by Defendants for their unfavorable actions toward him were pretextual, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND¹

A. Facts²

Gonzalez began working in the New York City Comptroller's Office as a Court Representative in the Bureau of Law and Adjustment ("BLA") in December 2002. Plaintiff's Response to Defendants' Rule 56.1 Statement ("56.1 Stmt"), Dkt No. 131, ¶ 11. Gonzalez was promoted to become a Senior Court Representative in 2011. Id. In December 2014, the Comptroller's Office posted a vacancy for the position of Division Chief of the Property Damage Division. Id. ¶ 15; Job Vacancy Notice for Property Damage Division, Ex. K to the Declaration of Ivan A. Mendez, Jr. ("Mendez Decl."), Dkt No. 126; First Deposition of Emilio Gonzalez ("Gonzalez Dep. I"), Ex. B to Mendez Decl., at 63:17-64:7. Gonzalez applied for and was awarded the position in February 2015. Gonzalez Dep. I at 62:16-25. Defendant Seunghwan Kim—who was Assistant Comptroller for BLA, see Deposition of Seunghwan Kim ("Kim Dep."), Ex. I to Mendez Decl., at 14:12-16—approved Gonzalez's application for the Division Chief position. Id. at 47:15-23. As Assistant Comptroller for BLA, Kim supervised John Graham, the Director of Settlements and Adjudications in the BLA when Gonzalez was promoted to Chief of Property Damage. 56.1 Stmt ¶¶ 13, 22. Graham in turn supervised Gonzalez. Id. ¶ 21. Graham retired in July 2015 and was replaced by Defendant James Cox, who had previously served as Deputy Director of Settlements and Adjudications. Id. ¶¶ 22-23.

Shortly after he was promoted, Gonzalez alleges that Kim instructed him to terminate Luc Pierre—an employee in the Property Damage Division—because he is Black. Id. ¶ 19; Gonzalez Dep. I at 169:22-170:20; Declaration of Hope Lendzian ("Lendzian Decl."), Dkt No. 130, ¶¶ 5-7. Kim denies making that statement. Kim Dep. at 48:12-14.

1. Gonzalez's Application to the Deputy Director Position

In August 2015, the Comptroller's Office posted a job announcement for the Deputy Director position that Cox had vacated when he was promoted, and Gonzalez applied to that position. Gonzalez Dep. I at 168:10-13; Gonzalez's Application to Deputy Director Position, Ex. Q to Mendez Decl. The notice associated with that position stated that a candidate must have eighteen months in a supervisory capacity or "[e]ducation and/or experience" that was equivalent to 18 months in a supervisory capacity. Deputy Director Job Vacancy Notice, Ex. 8 to the Declaration of Kenechukwu Okoli ("Okoli Decl."), Dkt No. 132-8, at 1.

Gonzalez was interviewed for the Deputy Director position on September 9, 2015 by Cox, Kim, and Kathryn Diaz, who was serving as General Counsel in the Comptroller's Office. Interview Logs, Ex. R to Mendez Decl. In his notes on the interview, Cox noted that Gonzalez "[w]as not well prepared," that he "[d]id not handle questions well," and that he was not qualified for the position. Interview Logs at D003841.³ Similarly, Kim wrote that Gonzalez was "[n]ot qualified" and that he "lack[ed] experience and judgment." Id. at D003840. Diaz observed that Gonzalez "[c]ould not articulate why [he was] ready for a second promotion [within] months [of his last promotion] and what lasting improvements [he has] made to [the] [P]roperty [D]amage [division]." Id. at D003838.

Gonzalez was not selected for the Deputy Director position. Selection Memo, Ex. T to Mendez Decl. Katherine Reilly—who had been serving as a Senior Court Representative—was selected for the job instead. Id. Reilly was interviewed by the same people who had interviewed Gonzalez, and all three noted that she performed well during the interview. Interview Logs at D003837, D003839, D003841. A September 14, 2015 memorandum explaining her selection noted that Reilly "ha[d] over five years of experience working as an Associate for a private law firm" and that "[n]one of the other candidate[s] have such experience." Selection Memo at 1. Reilly became Gonzalez's supervisor as a result of her promotion. See, e.g. , Gonzalez Dep I at 75:10-12.

2. Gonzalez's Performance as Division Chief of the Property Damage Division

Gonzalez's supervisors testified that he struggled in his new role as Division Chief of the Property Damage Division. Cox testified that Gonzalez "struggl[ed] ... to figure out how to process claims ... timely and efficiently." Deposition of James Cox ("Cox Dep."), Ex. S to Mendez Decl., at 46:16-18. On September 22, 2015, Cox wrote a memorandum for his files documenting a conversation with Gonzalez in which he wrote that Gonzalez "missed the fact that the individual who filed the claim on behalf of herself had no standing to submit the claim." September 22, 2015 Memorandum, Ex. U to Mendez Decl. The Memorandum also states that Cox "warned [Gonzalez] that based on the recent requests by staff for transfers, the handling of [claim number] 2014PD036637 and the fact that he did not process over 300 settlements—that both the Assistant Comptroller and I have concerns about his performance as Chief of Property Damage." Id.

Reilly testified that she had "many conversations" with Gonzalez "about the process having been slowed down and that claims needed to be handled more expeditiously." Deposition of Katherine Reilly ("Reilly Dep."), Ex. J to Mendez Decl., at 49:15-18. Reilly further testified that "the work in the division slowed down to a crawl because of hurdles that Mr. Gonzalez was putting in the way of settling claims[.]" Id. at 45:13-16. In addition, "[t]he number of calls" received by the Property Division "from angry Claimants increased drastically" in part because "Gonzalez was unable to pacify Claimants when they called the Property Damage Division." Id. at 46:12-19. Reilly believed that "Gonzalez seemed unable ... to make independent judgment calls" about which claims warranted further investigation and which claims should be settled quickly. Id. at 81:3-5. One problem with moving cases more slowly, Reilly noted, was that the statute of limitations for claims would expire before claims examiners could respond to claimants. Id. at 101:13-18. Despite the conversations between Reilly and Gonzalez about the need to resolve cases more quickly, Reilly testified the problem "was only getting worse." Id. at 102:10.

Gonzalez asserts that he uncovered corruption in the Comptroller's Office as Division Chief of the Property Damage Division. Gonzalez's principal complaint was that the Comptroller's Office was "settling cases without determining liability or damages." Gonzalez Dep. I at 100:5-6. In a declaration, Gonzalez further stated that he "refused to go along with Defendants' corrupt way of settling claims without the necessary predicate of liability or standing of the Claimants." Declaration of Emilio Gonzalez ("Gonzalez Decl."), Dkt No. 129, ¶ 14. Gonzalez testified that he was aware that his supervisors in the Comptroller's Office were concerned that cases were not moving quickly enough. Gonzalez Dep I at 75:10-12. However, Gonzalez believed that the cost of settlements moving more slowly was justified by the savings that resulted from the new procedures that he implemented. Id. at 76:13-77:12.

3. Gonzalez's Demotion and Prolonged Leaves of Absence

Cox, Reilly and Kim decided that "Gonzalez was not the right fit for" the Property Damage Chief position. Reilly Dep. at 102:20. In January 2016, Gonzalez was demoted from his role as Division Chief of the Property Damage Division to an administrative claims examiner, level one, in the Motor Vehicle Claims Division. Demotion Letter, Ex. V to Mendez Decl. Gonzalez was instructed to report to Defendant Maria Maglio-Scotti, Division Chief of the Motor Vehicle Division, for his new assignment. Id. Gonzalez's new duties included processing and opening mail, summarizing police reports, and doing data entry. Gonzalez Dep. I at 122:4-6. Once he had the documents necessary to evaluate a case, Gonzalez was instructed to report to Maglio-Scotti "about settling cases." Id. at 122:6-9. Gonzalez testified that Maglio-Scotti often commented on minor flaws in his work. Id. at 122:13-17.

After his demotion, Gonzalez was absent from work for prolonged periods. In...