Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-azd-2_14-cv-00213/USCOURTS-azd-2_14-cv-00213-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 442
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights Employment
Cause of Action: 42:2000e Job Discrimination (Employment)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Marcy Rich, )

)

Plaintiff, ) 2:14-cv-00213 JWS

)

vs. ) ORDER AND OPINION

)

Arizona Regional Multiple Listing ) [Re: Motion at Docket 6]

Service, Inc., )

)

Defendant. )

)

I. MOTION PRESENTED

At docket 6, defendant Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (“ARMLS”)

moves pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for an order dismissing

plaintiff Marcy Rich’s complaint. Rich responds at docket 10. ARMLS filed a reply at

docket 11. Oral argument was not requested and would not assist the court.

II. BACKGROUND

Rich has worked for ARMLS as a Training and Support Specialist since 2002. 

She filed this action in February 2014 alleging two causes of action against ARMLS

pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Claim one alleges religious

discrimination through disparate treatment and a hostile work environment. Claim two

alleges retaliation through disparate treatment.

Case 2:14-cv-00213-JWS Document 15 Filed 09/29/14 Page 1 of 14
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A. Rich’s disparate treatment allegations 

C In early 2008 Rich applied for a promotion to Director of Support Services. 

ARMLS denied her this promotion and instead gave the position to

Barbara Hoffman, a lesser-qualified Christian individual.

C In late 2008 Rich asked for a promotion to manage the training

department. ARMLS declined and gave the position to Hoffman instead. 

C In November 2012 Rich asked to be considered for a different position if

the company grew. She was told no.

C Between January 2012 and February 2013 Rich met six times with

ARMLS’s CEO Matthew Consalvo to ask for a promotion, among other

things. Consalvo told Rich there were no vacancies, yet ARMLS created

new positions that it filled with non-Jewish candidates. 

C On or around November 2012 and February 2013, Rich asked for a new

supervisor because her supervisor, Hoffman, exhibited religious hostility

toward her. This request was denied, although ARMLS had previously

allowed non-Jewish employees to change supervisors.

C In February 2013 Rich asked for a change in her job position. ARMLS

told her that there were no vacancies, yet it created a new position and

filled it with a non-Jewish candidate. 

C In February 2013 Consalvo told Rich that she was not allowed to talk

about her problems with Hoffman, including the problem of Hoffman’s

religious hostility, even though he allowed non-Jewish employees to

complain to him about their managers.

B. Rich’s hostile work environment allegations 

C In 2011 Hoffman, Rich’s direct supervisor who identifies herself as a “born

again” Christian, told Rich that she was “dead” because she did not

“reveal Jesus” to herself.

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C In December 2011 Hoffman gave Rich a poinsettia and sent an email to

Rich’s department wishing them a happy holiday whether they “celebrate

the birth of Christ or the Hanukkah Candles.” Hoffman also placed

crosses on the invitations to the mandatory company holiday party and

hired carolers who sang songs at the party with heavy Christian lyrics,

including “Christ our Lord.” 

C After the 2011 holiday party, Rich sent an email to the staff that explained

the meaning of Hanukkah. Kari Kuyper, who worked in Human

Resources, responded to that email by telling Rich that it violated the

company policy against using work computers for personal reasons,

despite the fact that the company continued to send Christmas-related

emails to the staff.

C In December 2012, Rich’s coworker Chris Heagerty gave Rich a “very

Christianity-oriented Christmas gift.” 

C In December 2012 Consalvo, then ARMLS’s COO, told Rich that he “did

not agree” with how she had decorated her cubicle the year before. In

2011, pursuant to the company’s “annual cubicle/office holiday decorating

activity,” Rich had decorated her cubicle with greeting cards from her

family that said “Happy Hanukkah” and with cut-outs of a dreidel and a

menorah. 

C In February 2013, Consalvo told Rich that he thought she would have a

conflict with another employee because of her religion.

C. Rich’s retaliation allegations 

Rich filed a charge of discrimination against ARMLS in February 2013. She

alleges that after filing this charge ARMLS has retaliated against her by denying her

“advancement opportunities” and subjecting her “to a more rigorous and arbitrary

standard of performance evaluation not used with other employees.” 

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III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Rule 12(b)(6), tests the legal sufficiency of a plaintiff’s claims. In reviewing such

a motion, “[a]ll allegations of material fact in the complaint are taken as true and

construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.”1 To be assumed true,

the allegations, “may not simply recite the elements of a cause of action, but must

contain sufficient allegations of underlying facts to give fair notice and to enable the

opposing party to defend itself effectively.”2

 Dismissal for failure to state a claim can be

based on either “the lack of a cognizable legal theory or the absence of sufficient facts

alleged under a cognizable legal theory.”3 “Conclusory allegations of law . . . are

insufficient to defeat a motion to dismiss.”4

 

To avoid dismissal, a plaintiff must plead facts sufficient to “‘state a claim to relief

that is plausible on its face.’”5 “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads

factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the

defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.”6 “The plausibility standard is not akin to

a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant

has acted unlawfully.”7 “Where a complaint pleads facts that are ‘merely consistent

with’ a defendant’s liability, it ‘stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility

of entitlement to relief.’”8 “In sum, for a complaint to survive a motion to dismiss, the

1Vignolo v. Miller, 120 F.3d 1075, 1077 (9th Cir. 1997).

2Starr v. Baca, 652 F.3d 1202, 1216 (9th Cir. 2011). 

3Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1990).

4Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 679 (9th Cir. 2001).

5Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550

U.S. 544, 570 (2007)).

6

Id.

7

Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556).

8

Id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557).

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non-conclusory ‘factual content,’ and reasonable inferences from that content, must be

plausibly suggestive of a claim entitling the plaintiff to relief.”9

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Statute of Limitations

A person who seeks relief under Title VII must file a charge with the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) within 180 days of the alleged unlawful

employment practice or, if the aggrieved person initially institutes proceedings with a

state or local administrative agency, within 300 days of the alleged unlawful

employment practice.10 Rich’s complaint asserts that she timely filed a charge of

employment discrimination with the EEOC (Charge No. 540-2013-01323).11

 ARMLS

attaches as Exhibit A to its motion to dismiss a copy of the charge that Rich allegedly

filed with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office on February 19, 2013, and argues that

several of Rich’s claims are untimely.

12

 Rich objects to the court’s consideration of this

document because it is a matter outside of her complaint.13 Her charge document is

not outside her complaint, however, because her complaint specifically refers to it and

its authenticity is not disputed.14

9Moss v. U.S. Secret Serv., 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009); see also Starr, 652 F.3d

at 1216.

1042 U.S.C. § 2000e–5(e)(1). See also Surrell v. California Water Serv. Co., 518 F.3d

1097, 1104 (9th Cir. 2008).

11Doc. 1 at 2 ¶ 3.

12Doc. 6 at 5.

13Doc. 10 at 8.

14Branch v. Tunnell, 14 F.3d 449, 453 (9th Cir. 1994), overruled on other grounds by

Galbraith v. Cnty. of Santa Clara, 307 F.3d 1119, 1126 (9th Cir. 2002)).

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1. Rich’s disparate treatment claims

Disparate treatment is where an employer “treats some people less favorably

than others because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”15

 Rich’s

disparate treatment claim alleges that ARMLS failed to promote her because she is

Jewish. ARMLS argues that this claim is untimely to the extent it is based on events

that occurred prior to April 25, 2012 (i.e., 300 days before she filed her claim). Rich

relies on Anderson v. Reno,

16

 and contends that acts that occurred before the

limitations period are nevertheless actionable under the “continuing violation” doctrine. 

But as ARMLS and, more importantly, the Ninth Circuit point out,17 the Supreme Court

overruled Anderson in National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Morgan.

18

 After Morgan,

discrete discriminatory acts (including an employer’s “failure to promote”) are actionable

only if they are not time barred—even where they are part of a series of discriminatory

acts that includes acts that are not time barred.19 Thus, Rich’s claim that ARMLS twice

failed to promote her in 2008 because of her religion is time barred. 

2. Rich’s hostile environment claim

Claims based on a hostile work environment fall within Title VII’s protections

against discrimination.20 In order to prevail on her hostile work environment claim, Rich

must establish three elements: (1) she was subjected to “verbal or physical conduct of a

15

Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 335 n.15 (1977).

16190 F.3d 930, 936 (9th Cir.1999).

17See RK Ventures, Inc. v. City of Seattle, 307 F.3d 1045, 1061 (9th Cir. 2002) (“Morgan

held that ‘discrete discriminatory acts are not actionable if time barred, even when they are

related to acts alleged in timely filed charges.’ Accordingly, appellants cannot establish liability

for events occurring prior to the limitations period on a continuing violation theory.”) (quoting

National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101, 113 (2002)).

18536 U.S. at 113.

19

Id. at 113–14.

20Harris v. Forklift Sys., 510 U.S. 17, 21 (1993).

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harassing nature;” (2) this conduct was unwelcome; and (3) “the conduct was

sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of [her] employment and create

an abusive working environment.”21

 For statute of limitations purposes, hostile

environment claims are treated slightly differently than discrete disparate treatment

claims. This is because by their nature hostile environment claims are usually based on

“the cumulative effect of individual acts” and not on any one event that occurred on a

particular day.

22

 To determine whether particular acts are part of a timely hostile

environment claim, courts employ a two-step analysis. They first decide whether the

acts are “part of the same actionable hostile work environment practice” and then, “if

so, whether any act falls within the statutory time period.”23

 When making this first

determination, courts consider whether the acts “were ‘sufficiently severe or pervasive,’”

and whether the various events amounted to “the same type of employment actions,

occurred relatively frequently, [or] were perpetrated by the same managers.”24

As ARMLS points out, only the following three events that make up Rich’s hostile

environment claim occurred after April 25, 2012: (1) in December 2012 Rich received a

“very Christianity-oriented Christmas gift” from a coworker; (2) in December 2012

Consalvo told Rich that he did not approve of her Hanukkah-related cubicle

decorations; and (3) in 2013 Consalvo told Rich that she might have a conflict with

another employee because of her religion. The court’s task is to determine whether

any of these events are sufficiently linked to any of the prior events alleged in Rich’s

complaint such that they form the same actionable hostile work environment practice. 

21Pavon v. Swift Transp. Co., 192 F.3d 902, 908 (9th Cir. 1999) (citing Meritor Savings

Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 67 (1986)).

22Morgan, 536 U.S. at 115.

23

Id. at 120.

24Porter v. California Dep’t of Corr., 419 F.3d 885, 893 (9th Cir. 2005) (quoting Morgan,

536 U.S. at 116, 120).

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Turning first to the Christmas gift that Rich received, Rich does not specify what

this gift was nor does she explain what about it was “very Christianity-orientated.” But

even assuming that the gift was severely insulting to her religious beliefs, as she

alleges, this act was not perpetrated by either of her superiors (Hoffman and Consalvo)

who were involved in the earlier acts. This was a discrete act perpetrated by one of

Rich’s coworkers. Consalvo’s alleged comments in 2012, on the other hand, are

consistent with his and Hoffman’s earlier comments that form the basis of Rich’s hostile

work environment claim. These comments, like the others made by Consalvo and

Hoffman, arguably demonstrate ARMLS’s criticism or disapproval of Rich because of

her religion. Consalvo’s and Hoffman’s derogatory comments are part of the same

allegedly hostile work environment practice. Rich’s challenge to that practice is timely. 

B. Exhaustion of Remedies

An aggrieved individual cannot bring a Title VII action against her employer until

she has exhausted the administrative process.25 The purpose of this exhaustion

requirement is “to provide an opportunity to reach a voluntary settlement of an

employment discrimination dispute.”26 Although the allegations contained in the

individual’s administrative charge “operate to limit the scope of any subsequent judicial

complaint,”27 courts liberally construe charges that were not prepared by lawyers.28

ARMLS argues that Rich did not exhaust her administrative remedies with

respect to her hostile work environment claim because “nowhere in her charge does

she identify any conduct which could be perceived by any reasonable person to

25Chacko v. Patuxent Inst., 429 F.3d 505, 509 (4th Cir. 2005) (citing 42 U.S.C.

§ 2000e-5(b), (f)(1); Bryant v. Bell Atl. Md., Inc., 288 F.3d 124, 132 (4th Cir.2002); 29 C.F.R.

§ 1601.28).

26Blank v. Donovan, 780 F.2d 808, 809 (9th Cir.1986).

27Evans v. Techs. Applications & Serv. Co., 80 F.3d 954, 962–63 (4th Cir.1996).

28See Chacko, 429 F.3d at 509.

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suggest that she was subjected to a hostile work environment at ARMLS.”29 Rich

responds by noting that the charge form does not have a box to check for “Hostile Work

Environment” and, in any event, Rich sufficiently put ARMLS on notice of her hostile

work environment claim by alleging that she had numerous discussions with Consalvo

about the office “culture.”30

 The court agrees. Although Rich’s charge is short on

details regarding what she meant by ARMLS’s “culture,” the fact that she checked the

box next to “continuing action” and charged ARMLS with having a “culture” that

discriminated against her on the basis of religion, Rich exhausted her administrative

remedies with regard to her hostile work environment claim. 

C. Disparate Treatment

ARMLS argues that Rich has failed to allege a valid disparate treatment claim. 

For Rich to allege a prima facie case of disparate treatment, she must establish that

she (1) belongs in a class protected by Title VII, (2) was qualified for the position,

(3) was subject to an adverse employment action, and (4) similarly situated individuals

outside her protected class were treated more favorably.

31 ARMLS contends that

Rich’s complaint fails to allege facts that satisfy the third element because she has not

been demoted or suffered a decrease in pay. This argument lacks merit. Rich’s

complaint alleges that ARMLS failed to promote her because of her religion; this is an

adverse employment action.32 

29Doc. 6 at 5.

30Doc. 10 at 10.

31Chuang v. Univ. of California Davis, Bd. of Trustees, 225 F.3d 1115, 1123 (9th Cir.

2000) (citing McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802 (1973)).

32Brooks v. City of San Mateo, 229 F.3d 917, 928 (9th Cir. 2000) (“Among [the]

employment decisions that can constitute an adverse employment action are termination,

dissemination of a negative employment reference, issuance of an undeserved negative

performance review and refusal to consider for promotion.”).

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D. Hostile Work Environment

Next, ARMLS argues that Rich failed to sufficiently allege the “extreme type of

conduct necessary to establish a hostile work environment claim.”33

 To determine

whether the alleged conduct was sufficiently severe or pervasive to support a hostile

work environment claim courts employ a totality of the circumstances test.34

 The

circumstances that courts consider “include the frequency of the discriminatory conduct;

its severity; whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive

utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work

performance.”35 “Offhand comments” and “isolated incidents (unless extremely

serious)” are not enough.36 In order to prevail, the plaintiff must demonstrate a working

environment that is both subjectively and objectively perceived to be abusive.37 In sum,

Rich must “show that she perceived her work environment to be hostile, and that a

reasonable person in her position would perceive it to be so.”38

At the motion to dismiss stage, Rich need not support her allegations with

evidence, but her complaint must allege sufficient facts to satisfy each element of a

hostile work environment claim.

39

 ARMLS raises two arguments for why, from an

objective standpoint, Rich’s allegations do not describe sufficiently abusive workplace

conditions. First, it argues that the majority of Rich’s claims involve Christmas-related

33Doc. 6 at 7.

34Harris v. Forklift Sys., 510 U.S. at 23.

35

Id.

36Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 788 (1998).

37Fuller v. City of Oakland, 47 F.3d 1522, 1527 (9th Cir.1995) (citing Harris, 510 U.S. at

21–22).

38Dominguez-Curry v. Nevada Transp. Dep’t, 424 F.3d 1027, 1034 (9th Cir. 2005)

(citations omitted).

39

Johnson v. Riverside Healthcare Sys., LP, 534 F.3d 1116, 1122 (9th Cir. 2008) (citing

Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570; Williams v. Boeing Co., 517 F.3d 1120, 1130 (9th Cir. 2008)).

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activities, not religion. This argument lacks merit. Title VII defines the term “religion” to

include “all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief.”40 Although

some traditional symbols of Christmas, such as the Christmas tree or perhaps a

poinsettia plant, have arguably assumed a primarily secular significance in modern

society,

41 ARMLS cannot seriously contend that a statement about “the birth of Christ,”

the crosses on the holiday party invitations, and a song about “Christ our Lord,” do not

contain an aspect of religious observance, practice, or belief.

42

 

Second, ARMLS argues that Rich’s allegations “do not come anywhere near the

level of the extreme conduct necessary to alter the terms and conditions of Rich’s

employment” because they describe only “a handful of events that occurred over a very

short period of time.” When assessing the objective portion of a plaintiff’s claim, courts

assume the perspective of the reasonable victim.

43 This inquiry “is not, and by its

nature cannot be, a mathematically precise test.”44 On one hand, workplaces “are not

always harmonious locales, and even incidents that would objectively give rise to

bruised or wounded feelings will not on that account satisfy the severe or pervasive

standard. Some rolling with the punches is a fact of workplace life.”45 But on the other

hand, the harassment need not be “unendurable” or “intolerable;” it need only be “of

4042 U.S.C. § 2000e(j).

41See Cnty. of Allegheny v. Am. Civil Liberties Union Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, 492

U.S. 573, 616 (1989) (“The Christmas tree, unlike the menorah, is not itself a religious symbol.

Although Christmas trees once carried religious connotations, today they typify the secular

celebration of Christmas.”). 

42See, e.g., Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668, 675 (1984).

43Brooks, 229 F.3d at 923–24.

44Harris, 510 U.S. at 22.

45E.E.O.C. v. Sunbelt Rentals, Inc., 521 F.3d 306, 315 (4th Cir. 2008).

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such quality or quantity that a reasonable employee would find the conditions of her

employment altered for the worse.”46

ARMLS relies in large part on Shabat v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of the Rochester

Area.

47

 There, the plaintiff alleged that a coworker had asked him whether “people from

the Mideast beat their wives;” over a year later his supervisor asked him “How come

you cannot accept Jesus Christ as the messiah, the son of God? After all, he was a

Jew;” a few months later that same supervisor told him that there “is no such holiday”

as Yom Kippur; and over a year later the human resources manager stated that

“Israelis are blunt, direct, candid, and honest people” and that Am ericans cannot handle

this “brand of honesty.”48 The district court held that “[g]iven the infrequency of these

remarks, and the fact that most of the incidents were relatively minor, . . . no factfinder

could reasonably conclude that plaintiff was subjected to a hostile work environment for

purposes of Title VII.”49 

In contrast, in Feingold v. New York,

50

 the plaintiff alleged that he was subjected

to anti-Semitic treatment at work that included: receiving inferior training; being called

not by his own name but by other “Jewish-sounding names;” in “nearly every”

conversation that took place in his presence a coworker “would say something about

his religion or hers or tell stories about a Jewish person;” the same coworker stated,

“What’s wrong withe these [Jewish] people?”; that same coworker “regularly proclaimed

‘Praise Jesus’ and ‘Hallelujah,’ and asked other employees to join her in these

affirmations;” another coworker described food that she ate as “Jewish pig food;” and

46Terry v. Ashcroft, 336 F.3d 128, 148 (2d Cir.2003).

47925 F.Supp. 977, 981 (W.D.N.Y. 1996), aff’d sub nom. Shabat v. Billotti, 108 F.3d

1370 (2d Cir. 1997) (unpublished table opinion).

48

Id.

49

Id. at 984.

50366 F.3d 138, 144 (2d Cir. 2004).

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Christian symbols were displayed in the office year-round. The Second Circuit held the

plaintiff had established discrimination that was sufficiently frequent (almost daily) and

severe (stemming from anti-Semitic hostility) to allow a fact-finder to conclude that a

reasonable employee in his position would have experienced discriminatory

intimidation, ridicule, and insult because he was Jewish.”51

 

ARMLS’s argument is premature. Each of the cases upon which it relies was

decided at the summary judgment, not motion to dismiss, stage.52 The court’s job at

this stage is to evaluate the adequacy of Rich’s complaint, not her evidence. Viewing

the totality of the circumstances that Rich alleges in her complaint, and all of the

reasonable inferences that flow from them, Rich plausibly suggests that the

discrimination she allegedly experienced at ARMLS’s hands was sufficiently severe or

pervasive to alter the conditions of her employment for the worse.

E. Retaliation

Finally, ARMLS argues that Rich has failed to allege a valid retaliation claim

because she only alleges that she has been subjected to more rigorous or arbitrary

performance evaluations, not a “decrease in pay or any other type of cognizable

adverse employment action.” In response, Rich correctly asserts that an undeserved

negative performance review may constitute an adverse employment decision.53 This is

of no help to Rich, however, because she fails to allege that she received a negative

performance review. However, Rich also alleges that ARMLS turned her down for

51

Id. at 150.

52Shabat, 925 F.Supp. at 981; Lara v. Raytheon Corp., No. 6:10-CV-1574-ORL-28KRS,

2011 WL 3919602, at *1 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 7, 2011); Manatt v. Bank of Am., NA, 339 F.3d 792,

795 (9th Cir. 2003); Rivera v. Puerto Rico Aqueduct & Sewers Auth., 331 F.3d 183, 187 (1st

Cir. 2003); Belgrove v. N. Slope Borough Power, Light, & Pub. Works, 982 F. Supp. 2d 1040,

1043 (D. Alaska 2013).

53See Brooks, 229 F.3d at 928 (9th Cir. 2000) (“Among [the] employment decisions that

can constitute an adverse employment action are . . . issuance of an undeserved negative

performance review.”).

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promotion because she filed the EEOC charge. This claim is inartfully worded,54 but

can be fairly read to allege a refusal to promote in retaliation for bringing the EEOC

charge. As discussed above, the refusal to promote may constitute an adverse

employment decision. 

V. CONCLUSION

Based on the preceding discussion, ARMLS’s motion to dismiss at docket 6 is

GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Rich’s claim of religious discrimination based

on ARMLS’s failure to promote her in 2008 is DISMISSED as time barred. In all other

respects ARMLS’s motion is DENIED. 

DATED this 29th day of September, 2014.

/s/ JOHN W. SEDWICK

SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

54Doc. 1 at 11 ¶ 53 (“As a direct result of her complaint of unlawful discrimination,

Plaintiff has failed to receive advancement opportunities . . . .”).

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Case 2:14-cv-00213-JWS Document 15 Filed 09/29/14 Page 14 of 14