Second Circuit Clarifies Pleading Standard In Title VII Cases

In a case of first impression, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals explained for the first time how district courts are to harmonize recent Supreme Court precedent requiring that claims be "plausible" with the well-known McDonnell Douglas test typically used to assess claims of discrimination. In doing so, the court confirmed that the plausibility standard does apply to claims of discrimination, while at the same time stating that, at the pleading stage, a plaintiff's burden is limited to plausibly alleging a "minimal inference of discrimination." The court also clarified how the "protected activity" element of a retaliation claim is assessed when the plaintiff is a human resources professional acting within the scope of her duties.

Applying the Plausibility Standard to Discrimination Claims

The plaintiff in Littlejohn v. City of New York, 795 F.3d 297 (2d Cir. 2015), an African-American woman, worked at the New York City Administration for Children's Services ("ACS") as the Director of its Equal Employment Opportunity ("EEO") Office. ACS and the City's Department of Juvenile Justice ("DJJ") merged, and as a result numerous employees from DJJ were slated to be laid off, demoted, reassigned or terminated. Littlejohn worked within the integration process and alleges that she complained that supervisors showed preferential treatment to white DJJ employees over African-American and Latino DJJ employees during the merger, in violation of anti-discrimination policies and procedures. Littlejohn alleged that as a result of her complaints regarding the treatment of minority employees during the merger, she was involuntarily transferred and allegedly demoted to an administrative staff analyst position in the Office of Personnel Services, and that her transfer and demotion were in retaliation for her complaints. The District Court dismissed the entire case, holding that Littlejohn had failed to adequately plead her hostile work environment, disparate treatment, and retaliation claims.

The Second Circuit reversed the dismissal of several of these claims and, in doing so, clarified the pleading standards required for Title VII employment discrimination cases. Specifically, the court addressed the intersection of the McDonnell Douglas quartet of cases (which specifically address standards used in employment discrimination cases) and the United States Supreme Court's 2007 and 2009 decisions in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and...