Thomas v. Istar Financial Inc.
| Decision Date | 07 July 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 05 Civ. 606(VM).,05 Civ. 606(VM). |
| Citation | 438 F.Supp.2d 348 |
| Parties | Kenneth J. THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. ISTAR FINANCIAL, INC. and Ed Baron, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
David 0. Simon, Steven M. Latino, Robyn Kim Ruderman, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., New York, NY, for Defendants.
DECISION AND ORDER
Plaintiff Kenneth Thomas ("Thomas") brings this action against his former employer, iStar Financial, Inc. ("iStar") and iStar Vice President of Administration and Operations, Ed Baron ("Baron") (collectively, "Defendants"), alleging unlawful race discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. and the New York City Human Rights Law ("NYCHRL"). Thomas alleges that Defendants (1) terminated him on the basis of race, (2) created a hostile work environment, and (3) retaliated against him for complaining about discriminatory treatment. Defendants moved for summary judgment on all claims. For the reasons described below, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendants' motion for summary judgment.
Thomas, who is African-American, began working for iStar, a publicly traded real estate finance company, in May 2000 as a temporary employee. In June 2000, iStar Senior Vice President and Controller Colette Tretola ("Tretola") hired Thomas as a permanent employee in the accounts payable department. Thomas's duties included paying and processing invoices, obtaining prior approval of invoices before processing, verifying that invoices had not already been paid, entering invoices into the accounts payable computer system and generating checks for signature. In March 2001, Tretola promoted Thomas to Accounts Payable Manager; he was also assigned an assistant, Amy Aldridge-Carlson ("Carlson"). Thomas continued to work in that capacity until August 2003, when his employment was terminated. Carlson, a white woman, replaced Thomas as Accounts Payable Manager upon his termination.
The parties strongly dispute the quality of Thomas's work performance at iStar and the circumstances of his termination. Defendants contend that Thomas made frequent errors in his work, including failing to timely process and pay invoices, preparing checks for the wrong vendor or dollar amount, processing and paying invoices more than once, and coding invoices incorrectly. They assert that Tretola and iStar Assistant Controller Collin Cochrane ("Cochrane") met with Thomas on various occasions to discuss his poor job performance, and that Tretola assigned Carlson as an assistant to Thomas to help with his work performance issues.
According to Defendants, Thomas's performance did not improve and three final incidents in August 2003 led to his termination: (1) Thomas addressed a check for a member of iStar's Board of Directors to the wrong address, resulting in the check arriving at the wrong location; (2) Thomas acted in a rude and insubordinate manner when iStar's Director of Lease Administration Nancy Zoeckler ("Zoeckler") requested immediate assistance on a project; and (3) Thomas mistakenly requested approval for payment of monthly invoices for rent on iStar's corporate apartment in an amount that was three times the correct amount.2 Defendants assert that Tretola decided to terminate Thomas following these incidents based on her observations of his poor work performance throughout his time at iStar and complaints she had received from senior officers and managers.
Thomas, on the other hand, maintains that his work performance throughout his employment at iStar was "excellent" and that he was verbally praised by his supervisors each year. He includes his performance appraisal for January to December 2002 in which he received a rating of "B" ("good, solid performer") for execution of his work tasks. (See Employee Grades undated, attached as Exhibit 71 of Pl. Mem.) He also includes documentation that he was given raises and bonuses based on performance each year of his employment and notes that he was promoted to Accounts Payable Manager. Thomas attributes any errors in invoice processing to iStar's poor procedural systems and to intentional efforts by Baron to target him for criticism.
Thomas specifically disputes Defendants' account of the three incidents described above. He asserts that (1) another employee, Gerri Geniblazo, inputted the wrong address for the board member and mailed the check; (2) he was not rude or insubordinate to Zoeckler but explained he would need additional assistance to complete the project, and was later praised for his performance; and (3) he never intended to triple-pay rent on the corporate apartment; he planned to prepare one check to cover rent for three months. Thomas asserts that Baron was involved in creating these "issues" and reporting them to Thomas's supervisors.
Thomas further disputes that Tretola alone made the decision to terminate his employment. Instead, Thomas contends that Baron intentionally targeted him for termination based on racial hostility, complained about Thomas to his supervisors without justification, and actively participated in the termination process.
Thomas outlines a series of incidents he believes reveal Baron's racial animus toward blacks in general and Thomas in particular. Thomas alleges that Baron: told him when they first met, "well you may like me now, but come a month from now you will hate my guts"; asked Thomas personal questions about how he could afford to pay for a Jaguar automobile, a house, and child support; told black employees including Thomas, when introducing himself, that he could identify with their ethnicity, knew what it was like to grow up poor, that some of his best friends are black, and that he came from where they came from and grew up in the "hood," poor and on welfare; told Thomas that his daughter looked like a "black dot" in a company picnic photo; asked Thomas why he was friends with a Hispanic employee, calling her a "street rat"; told Thomas, with regard to a Hispanic vendor, that he did not like dealing with "those Mexicans"; called former iStar employee Jama Clark ("Clark") a "nigger," and told her she had to try harder because she is black. (See Thomas Aff. at 30-32.)
Thomas also contends that Baron generally targeted black employees at iStar for criticism, including Human Resources Manager Ayanna Shanks ("Shanks"), and was involved in firing several black employees in various iStar offices. According to Thomas, Baron also would regularly call him into his office to "interrogate" him about various issues and on one occasion falsely accused him of having sexually harassed another employee. (Id. at 32.) Thomas adds that Baron regularly criticized him to his supervisors, caused Thomas to pay invoices late by deliberately withholding the invoices, and told Carlson that he would "get rid of Thomas if she was unhappy. (Id. at 31-33.)
Thomas alleges that iStar accountant Jay Agarwal ("Agarwal") also made inappropriate racial comments. According to Thomas, Agarwal: addressed Thomas on one occasion by saying, "What's up my Nigger?"; used the word "nigger" in phone conversations; tried to tell Thomas "nigger jokes"; called black women he saw on pornography websites "bitches"; told Thomas and Shanks they looked like Al Sharpton; asked Thomas, when Thomas went on a smoking break, whether he was smoking crack; asked Thomas if the hair between his legs was the same as the hair on his head; and told Thomas he thought only ninety-five percent of blacks are bad and that Thomas must be in the other five percent. (See Thomas Aff. at 36-37.)
Thomas further alleges that Zoeckler referred to him as a "black hole," and that Carlson told him she did not like working for a black man and that Baron was going to fire him because he was black. (See Thomas Aff. at 34, 42.)
Thomas reports that he made informal complaints' about his treatment to his supervisors on numerous occasions, and alleges that Defendants retaliated against him in various ways for doing so, including by terminating his employment.
Defendants deny that the majority of the alleged discriminatory incidents occurred and that Thomas complained about the alleged discriminatory treatment.3
Thomas's alleged informal complaints to supervisors are outlined in varying degrees of specificity. Around June 2000, Thomas complained to Accounting Department Manager Andrew Barker ("Barker") that Baron had accused him of being involved in check fraud and blamed him first whenever something was lost. Sometime around August 2001, Thomas complained to iStar Assistant General Counsel and Vice President Geoff Dugan ("Dugan") about Baron's alleged reference to Thomas's daughter as a "little black dot," and his sense that Baron was generally harassing him. Dugan allegedly told Thomas to let it "roll off [his] shoulder," and spoke to Baron about the incidents. (Thomas Aff. at 36.) Following this complaint, Thomas reports he heard Baron tell an administrative assistant that he would "get rid or Thomas. (Id.) In August 2002, Thomas complained to Barker and Shanks about the alleged incident in which Agarwal called Thomas a "nigger." Barker responded to the complaint by speaking to Agarwal about the incident behind closed doors. Agarwal then reportedly told Thomas he did not care who Thomas complained to since Thomas was on a "five-year plan." (Thomas Aff. at 37.)
Thomas also mentions other instances in which he complained about harassment from Baron, without specifying when the complaints were made. Sometime shortly after starting to work with Baron, Thomas complained to Barker and Shanks that he felt Baron's...
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