Plaintiff Failed To Submit Sufficient Proof Of Constructive Discharge Based On Age, National Origin, Sex And Religious Discrimination To Prevail On Summary Judgment

In the business employment law discrimination case of Torchia vs. Community Health Care, 25-7-4806, U.S. Dist. Ct. the plaintiff, a board certified physician in obstetrics and gynecology who served as medical director at defendant Completecare Health Network, asserted incidents of discrimination based on her age, national origin, sex, and religion and that taken together, they culminated in her constructive discharge, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, and that defendants breached her employment contract by forcing her to resign. The court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment on all of plaintiff’s discrimination claim, finding that: plaintiff has failed to submit sufficient proof to infer that discrimination was the cause of her termination where the evidence showed that defendant-Walter, the CEO, allegedly began to bully plaintiff because she had obtained a master’s degree in public health and he felt threatened and thus the change in circumstances evidenced more of a professional power struggle than discrimination due to plaintiff’s personal characteristics. The court also found that Walter’s alleged comments along with the other evidence did not demonstrate a discriminatory animus towards women or women over the age of 40, and the fact that 90 percent of the employees were women and the majority of the professional and managerial employees were female defeats plaintiff’s prima facie case for age and sex discrimination. Thus, plaintiff has not provided sufficient proof to show his animus toward her because of her protected statuses. The court also found that Walter’s alleged conduct did not rise to the level of outrageous, coercive and unconscionable such that a reasonable person would have felt compelled to resign and it therefore granted summary judgment to defendants on the breach of contract claim based on constructive discharge. [Filed Sept. 30, 2014]

Reference: Case & Analysis New Jersey Law Journal, 218 N.J.L.J. 483, (November 3, 2014)

Filed Under: Labor & Employment Law: Employment Discrimination, Age, National Origin, Sex and Religion Discrimination.

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