Xanthakos v. City Univ. of N.Y.
| Decision Date | 24 August 2020 |
| Docket Number | 17-CV-9829 |
| Parties | KAY XANTHAKOS, Plaintiff, v. CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, JUDITH BERGTRAUM, ROBERT LEMIEUX, and ALI VEDAVARZ, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Plaintiff Kay Xanthakos sued City University of New York ("CUNY") and individual Defendants Judith Bergtraum, Robert Lemieux, and Ali Vedavarz for gender-based pay discrimination and retaliation pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. ("Title IX"); Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"); the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d) ("EPA"); Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("Section 1983"); the New York State Human Rights Law, New York Executive Law § 290 et seq. ("NYSHRL"); and the New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-101 et seq ("NYCHRL"). See Am. Compl., Dkt. 24. Plaintiff also sued for retaliation pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. ("ADA"), and the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq. ("RA"). Id. Defendants moved to dismiss the Amended Complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6).1 Dkt. 35. For the following reasons, Defendants' motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.
Plaintiff is a licensed architect who has been Chief Architect at CUNY for over twenty years. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 17. She is also an Assistant Director in CUNY's Department of Design Construction and Management ("DDCM"). Id. ¶ 20. DDCM is a department within the Facilities, Planning, Construction, and Management ("FPCM") division. Id. Over the course of her career at CUNY, Plaintiff has managed the design and construction of new buildings and facilities, conducted professional staff development programs, implemented departmental guidelines, and supervised project managers across CUNY campuses. Id. ¶ 21. Before joining CUNY in 1996, Plaintiff worked for fifteen years in various architectural firms. Id. ¶ 18. She holds a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ("LEED") certificate and has a Masters degree in Architecture from Columbia University. Id. ¶¶ 16-17.
At all relevant times, Iris Weinshall was Vice Chancellor of FPCM, Judith Bergtraum was Weinshall's Deputy, Robert Lemieux was the Executive Director of the DDCM, and Ali Vedavarz was the Director of Engineering Services. Id. ¶¶ 28-30, 33. In June 2008, Vedavarz became Plaintiff's supervisor. Id. ¶ 37. Around the same time, Bergtraum and Lemieux informed Plaintiff that she was to concentrate on CUNY-wide initiatives, including developing architectural standards, overseeing a public assembly program, developing and implementing a records management policy, developing a professional development program, coordinating with CUNY attorneys to address ADA-related issues, and responding to concerns raised by the United States Office of Civil Rights. Id. ¶ 36. Despite the change in reporting and the expansion of Plaintiff's role, Plaintiff remained the University Chief Architect and an Assistant Director in DDCM, and she continued to review projects early in their design phase. Id. ¶¶ 37, 39.
In 2001, CUNY hired Anton Wolfshorndl as a Project Manager to be supervised by Plaintiff. Id. ¶¶ 46-47. Wolfshorndl is not a licensed architect and is not LEED-certified. Id. ¶ 49. In 2006, Wolfshorndl was selected for promotion to Assistant Director over a female project manager who was a licensed architect. Id. ¶ 48. In 2009, notwithstanding Wolfshorndl's inferior qualifications and shorter tenure at CUNY, Vedavarz told Plaintiff that she and Wolfshorndl should have the same salary. Id. ¶ 49. In 2016, Plaintiff learned that Wolfshorndl's annual salary was $11,000 more than hers. Id. ¶ 51. Plaintiff also alleges that at least three male assistant directors in DDCM earn more than Wolfshorndl, and thus more than Plaintiff, despite not being LEED-certified and having a shorter tenure at CUNY than Plaintiff. Id. ¶ 52.
Plaintiff alleges that two male directors, Jay Goldstein and Arthur Fasolino, earn significantly more than she does. Id. ¶¶ 53-54. Goldstein, the Director of Construction, earns $33,000 more per year than Plaintiff. Id. ¶ 53. Goldstein does not have a four-year college degree, is not a licensed architect or engineer, and has only worked at CUNY for five years. Id. Fasolino, the Director of Energy and Facility Sustainability, earns at least $15,000 more than Plaintiff. Id. ¶ 54. Fasolino is not LEED-certified and began working at CUNY after Plaintiff did. Id.
As early as 2007, Plaintiff complained directly to Bergtraum and Vedavarz that she was not paid as much as her male colleagues. Id. ¶¶ 45, 50. Bergtraum initially told Plaintiff that she would "catch up" to the salaries of other assistant directors, but she later claimed that there was a "freeze" on raises. Id. ¶ 50. Vedavarz "quickly change[d] the subject" whenever Plaintiff raised concerns regarding her pay. Id.
In October 2015, Plaintiff met with Vedavarz as part of her annual performance review process. Id. ¶ 55. During the meeting, Plaintiff complained that she was not being paid equally to her male colleagues. Id. On January 4, 2016, Plaintiff received her annual performance evaluation from Vedavarz; Plaintiff claims that the review did not detail her accomplishments, did not provide measurable goals, and did not rate her as highly as she believes her performance warranted. Id. ¶ 56. The review also stated that Plaintiff would begin to be responsible for smaller projects; smaller projects were inconsistent with her position as University Chief Architect. Id. Plaintiff immediately pointed out areas of her work that were missing or undervalued and repeated her concerns about pay inequity to Vedavarz. Id.
In January 2016, Plaintiff wrote a formal response to her performance review that detailed her objections and emphasized her concerns about her salary vis-à-vis her male colleagues. Id. ¶ 57. The memorandum explicitly stated: "an ongoing critical issue for me has been the lack of pay equity," and indicated that she had "raised the issue on numerous occasions with [her] supervisor and with the Vice-Chancellor." Id. Plaintiff delivered a copy to Vedavarz and to Human Resources. Id. Plaintiff claims Vedavarz's reaction to her memorandum was "hostile"; he allegedly told her several times that she "should not have done this" and that it would make things worse. Id. ¶ 58. On April 29, 2016, Plaintiff's attorney asserted a claim for pay discrimination in a letter to CUNY's General Counsel. Id. ¶ 60.
Plaintiff alleges that she was retaliated against as a result of her complaints about pay inequity. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that after she submitted her memorandum to human resources and filed her claim for pay discrimination, Lemieux and Vedavarz isolated her and diminished her responsibilities. Id. ¶ 62. For example, Lemieux periodically stopped invitingPlaintiff to staff meetings, was hostile towards her, and ignored her in a meeting with DDCM management. Id. ¶¶ 63-64. Similarly, Vedavarz directed Plaintiff to work on smaller projects outside of her job description, reassigned certain of her larger projects to male project managers, and failed to invite her to a holiday luncheon to which her male colleagues were invited. Id. ¶¶ 65-67. Plaintiff also alleges that Vedavarz applied different standards to her work than he did to male assistant directors, became hostile when she raised questions about her assignments or differential treatment, and was unresponsive to her requests for project-related information. Id. ¶¶ 68-69. Plaintiff further alleges that she has not received a performance review since January 1, 2016. Id. ¶ 61.
In 2013, Plaintiff began working on the design of the Lehman Concert Hall, an events space located in the Bronx. Id. ¶ 70. In addition to overseeing the early design stages, Plaintiff consulted with CUNY attorneys to ensure that the design for the concert hall was ADA-compliant. Id. ¶¶ 36, 71-74. Plaintiff repeatedly raised concerns to her supervisors that the proposed design did not meet regulations for dispersed wheelchair seating and that, as designed, individuals in wheelchairs would be unable to enter or exit through the front of the concert hall. Id. ¶¶ 72-77. Lemieux and Vedavarz dismissed her concerns. Id. ¶¶ 75, 77, 79.
Plaintiff asserts claims for gender-based pay discrimination and retaliation in violation of the EPA, Title VII, Section 1983, the NYSHRL, the NYCHRL, and Title IX. Id. ¶¶ 80-129. Plaintiff also asserts retaliation claims pursuant to the ADA and the RA. Id. ¶¶ 120-24.
To survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, "a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'" Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A complaint does not need to "contain detailed or elaborate factual allegations, but only allegations sufficient to raise an entitlement to relief above the speculative level." Keiler v. Harlequin Enters., Ltd., 751 F.3d 64, 70 (2d Cir. 2014). On a motion to dismiss, the Court must accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Gibbons v. Malone, 703 F.3d 595, 599 (2d Cir. 2013).
The EPA provides that "[n]o employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate . . . between employees on the basis of sex." 29 U.S.C. § 206(d...
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