Job Discrimination: Nieves v. City of Rochester

Listen to this article

U.S. District Court, Western District of New York

Job Discrimination

Nieves v. City of Rochester
08-CV-6537
Judge Larimer

Background: Plaintiff, Pablo Nieves and his wife, commenced this action against the City of Rochester, the Rochester Fire Department, its former Chief Floyd A. Madison, current Chief John D. Caufield, and Executive Deputy Chief Ralph Privitere. Nieves alleges that he was subjected to a hostile work environment, harassment and disparate treatment in violation of his civil rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1983, and purports to assert state law claims for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent hiring, training supervision and retention. The defendants now move to dismiss.
According to the complaint, Nieves, a city firefighter, was “singled out for unequal treatment” by the defendants based upon, inter alia, his race. Stated summarily, Nieves claims that he was denied certain training and transfers, subjected to unfair medical certification requirements and disclosures of medical information, and that the defendants permitted other officers to harass him during and after Nieves was accused, tried and acquitted of rape charges. Nieves contends that the defendants’ acts and omissions were motivated by race-based discriminatory animus.

Ruling: The complaint is dismissed. The court observes that the only conceivable factual allegation relating to race is the quote, attributed to a former RFD chief during a lunchtime conversation, that “[w]e don’t like our people of color making a lot of noise in this department.” This alone, “and with no additional information concerning its context, the person(s) to whom it was made, and its relationship, if any, to Nieves’ background, this statement is insufficient to satisfy Nieves’ obligation to allege factual circumstances giving rise to an inference of discrimination, let alone circumstances rising to the level of a hostile work environment. Simply put, Nieves alleges insufficient facts to support his contention that any of the defendants’ conduct was motivated by his race or ethnic background.” The discrimination claims are dismissed.

Jeffrey Wicks of Jeffrey Wicks PLLC for the plaintiffs; Matthew D. Brown, of the City of Rochester Law Department, for the defendants