Opinion ID: 782711
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alleged retaliatory suspension of firearms privileges

Text: 40 Terry alleges that his firearms privileges were denied to him in retaliation for his EEO complaints. 41 In June 1994, a number of months after his January 1994 hospitalization for chest pains and related problems, Terry's firearms privileges were suspended and Terry was ordered to undergo a fitness-for-duty medical exam. According to defendants, the privileges were suspended pending the outcome of the medical exam and Terry's return to full duty status. 13 On August 17, 1994, Terry was restored to full duty status and defendants imply (but never state) that Terry regained his firearms privileges at that time. Terry, however, asserts that he never received re-authorization to carry a firearm. 42 According to Terry, this lack of authorization became a particular problem when, in January 1997, he returned to work after a 1½ year administrative leave and was placed in the Deportation Branch. He alleges that Deportation Agents working in the field were required to carry a firearm. To be allowed to carry a firearm, Terry needed to qualify at a shooting range. 14 In a taped telephone conversation, Terry's immediate supervisor, Ethan Enzer, explicitly stated that he had no clearance to send Terry to the range because of his ongoing pending action, apparently referring to Terry's EEO activities. 43 Terry has stated a prima facie case of retaliation. See Richardson v. New York State Dep't of Corr. Serv., 180 F.3d 426, 443 (2d Cir.1999). First, he has shown that he participated in a protected activity known to his employer. Second, a reasonable fact-finder could conclude that the suspension of Terry's firearms privileges constituted an adverse employment action. Terry's deposition suggests that a firearm may well be an essential tool for a Special Agent, and that the lack of one for a significant period of time could limit the types of assignments an Agent may take and, therefore, limit the development of the Agent's career. Third, Terry has presented sufficient evidence for a trier-of-fact to conclude that there was a causal connection between the protected activity and the adverse decision. Enzer's statement supports the conclusion that such a connection existed between the refusal to allow Terry to qualify and his EEO activity. The existence of a retaliatory refusal to allow Terry to regain his privileges would in turn support the inference that the original suspension was retaliatory as well. 44 Terry has also provided sufficient evidence to show that defendants' stated reasons for the original suspension and the refusal to allow him to qualify were pretextual. First, insofar as Terry can show that his firearms privileges were never reinstated, a reasonable fact-finder might infer that defendants' reason for suspending them in 1994 (that Terry was diagnosed with chest pains and Mitral Valve Syndrome) were pretextual, because his privileges were not reinstated even after he subsequently passed a medical exam and was reinstated as fit-for-duty. Second, while defendants claim that no adverse action was taken against Terry because no member of the Branch was allowed to go to the range until February, and thus Terry was not singled out, 15 Enzer's statements could be read as indicating that the only reason Terry was not allowed to go to the range earlier was because of his EEO activity. 45 Thus, summary judgment on Terry's retaliation claim stemming from denial of his firearms privileges was inappropriate. 46