Site Didn’t Discriminate Against Manager

Facts: In late 2004, a site manager with 13 years' experience overseeing low- to middle-income housing at Southside in Brooklyn, N.Y., took a one-month personal leave to care for her sister. While she was away on leave, Southside's housing director issued a memorandum admonishing her for “many discrepancies with the tenants' files, such as expired leases, incomplete or missing recertifications, and missing files or documentation.”

The housing director immediately removed the manager from her duties managing five sites and informed her that her new assignment would be to answer all repair calls, maintain a repair log of all complaints, issue work orders and distribute them to the supers, and keep copies of work orders by building.

In February 2005, the housing director issued a “final warning” to the manager regarding her job performance. The memo admonished her for instigating matters among the tenants, failing to log all incoming calls, and spending 30 minutes that day on a personal telephone call.

The manager filed suit in federal district court, alleging race and national origin discrimination. Southside asked the court to dismiss the case.

Decision: The federal district court granted Southside's motion to dismiss the case.

Reasoning: The court found that the manager failed to offer adequate evidence that the change in her job responsibilities violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court further noted that the manager had not put forward any evidence to demonstrate that similarly situated individuals were treated differently or to suggest that this particular employment action was motivated by discrimination.

• Vazquez v. Southside United Housing Development Fund, August 2009