Opinion ID: 2456
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Reassignment of Plaintiff's Duties

Text: After plaintiffs employment concluded, plaintiff was not specifically replaced by any one individual at the ILR School. The ILR School tasked Lee Adler, a male senior extension associate, with teaching some of the Resident classes that plaintiff had formerly taught. However, unlike plaintiff, Adler was paid $7,500 for each Resident class taught in addition to his Extension salary. Ronald Applegate, another male faculty member, began a three-year appointment in August 2002 and was offered the option of performing work in the Extension Division that plaintiff had been performing prior to the conclusion of her employment. Finally, defendants used another male, Lance Compa, to perform some of the duties plaintiff had previously performed.
On December 16, 2003, plaintiff filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York seeking damages and remedies under, to the extent pertinent to this appeal, Title VII, the ADEA, the NYSHRL, the NYCHRL, and New York State common law. On March 14, 2004, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the entirety of plaintiffs complaint for failure to state a claim pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). By Order dated February 3, 2005, the district court granted defendants' motion. First, the district court found that plaintiff had failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination under McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), as she had not demonstrated an adverse employment action or causation. Specifically, because Cornell's official policy did not provide job security on par with tenured professors to contracted associates, the district court concluded that the non-renewal of plaintiffs contract could not constitute an adverse act for purposes of the relevant anti-discrimination statutes. The district court also held that her breach of contract claim failed for the same reason. Finally, the district court held that plaintiff's implied-in-fact contract and quantum meruit claims were insufficient as a matter of law, as she failed to plead essential elements of both causes of action. See Leibowitz v. Cornell Univ., No. 03-9976, 2005 WL 267560 (S.D.N.Y. Feb.3, 2005) (Leibowitz I). Plaintiff appealed to this Court, which reversed in part the decision of the district court, reinstating plaintiffs discrimination and breach of contract claims and ordering that she be granted leave to replead her implied-in-fact contract and quantum meruit claims. See Leibowitz v. Cornell Univ., 445 F.3d 586 (2d Cir.2006) (Leibowitz II). With respect to plaintiffs discrimination claims, this Court determined that the district court erred by applying the prima facie case requirement at the pleading stage, as `[t]he prima facie case under McDonnell Douglas ... is an evidentiary standard, not a pleading requirement.' Id. at 591 (quoting Swierkiewicz v. Sorema, N.A., 534 U.S. 506, 510, 122 S.Ct. 992, 152 L.Ed.2d 1 (2002) (omission in original)). Thus, this Court concluded that plaintiff's claim that the non-renewal of her contract breached an unofficial promise of job security on par with tenure was a sufficient allegation of an adverse employment action to survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), and that this allegation was also sufficient to plead a cause of action for breach of contract. Finally, the district court was instructed to grant plaintiff leave to amend her claims of implied-in-fact contract and quantum meruit. This matter returned to the district court and discovery was conducted, after which defendants moved for summary judgment on all claims. The district court granted the motion in its entirety. See Leibowitz v. Cornell Univ., No. 03-9976, 2007 WL 3019223 (S.D.N.Y. Oct.12, 2007) (Leibowitz III). The district court determined that plaintiff had failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination because she was unable to produce any evidence that she had or held any right to a tenured position, that any Senior Extension Associate II had tenure, or that Senior Extension Associates who were male or younger than plaintiff were unofficially given tenure, id. at , and, therefore, plaintiff could not prove the existence of an adverse employment action in the defendants' decision not to renew her contract, nor could plaintiff show circumstances giving rise to an inference of discrimination. See id. at -9. The district court also concluded that plaintiff failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact that defendants' purported reasons for failing to renew her contract were pretextual. See id. at . The district court further concluded that, because plaintiff could not establish an unofficial policy granting her tenure, her breach of contract claim failed. Id. at  11. Finally, the district court found that plaintiffs implied-in-fact contractual claim, related to services she rendered after her employment ended, failed because she could not demonstrate that defendants consented to pay her for those services, and that her claim of quantum meruit also failed because she could not establish a reasonable expectation of compensation. Id. at  11-12. This appeal followed.