This employment action is before the court on the motion to dismiss filed by defendant U.S. Lawns, Inc., pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (ECF No. 9). U.S. Lawns argues that the complaint filed by plaintiff Lisa G. Wright fails to allege facts sufficient to establish that it was her employer for purposes of Title VII. Following a hearing on August 17, 2015, the court ordered a period of discovery. The parties filed supplemental briefs and supporting evidence and appeared before the court on March 9, 2016 to present additional argument.
Both parties have presented evidence outside of the pleadings in conjunction with this motion. As such, the court will convert it from a motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment, as required by Rule 12(d). ET Lawn Care LLC Having carefully considered the evidence and arguments raised by counsel in multiple briefs and at two separate hearings, the court concludes that U.S. Lawns is not Wright's statutory employer under Title VII. Applying the factors outlined by the Fourth Circuit in Butler v. Drive Automotive Industries of America, Inc., 793 F.3d 404 (4th Cir. 2015), the court finds that U.S. Lawns and Mountain View were not Wright's joint employers for purposes of Title VII liability. Nor can U.S. Lawns be held liable under the single, integrated employer theory of liability or an apparent agency theory. U.S. Lawn's motion therefore will be GRANTED and Wright's claims against U.S. Lawns DISMISSED.
I.
Plaintiff Lisa Wright filed her complaint on May 11, 2015, alleging gender discrimination, harassment and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., against Mountain View Lawn Care, LLC and U.S. Lawns, Inc. Wright alleges she began work "for US Lawns (plaintiff is not certain of the precise legal name of her employer or the legal relationship, if any, between Mountain View Lawn Care LLC and US Lawns, Inc.)" in March 2014 as a landscapes Compl., ECF No. 1, at ¶ 7. She further alleges that:
(6) On information and belief, defendant Mountain View Lawn Care LLC and US Lawns, Inc. are corporate entities doing business in the western district of Virginia and elsewhere. At all times material hereto defendants operated as a "joint employer" under federal law and are and were a "person" within the meaning of Title VII, Section 701, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(a). On information and belief, at all times material hereto defendant is and was an "employer" within the meaning of Title VII, Section 701, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b), that is, at all times material hereto defendant is and was a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce which had fifteen (15) or more employees for each working day in each of twenty (20) or more calendar weeks during the years of plaintiffs employment or the preceding calendar year.
Both parties have presented evidence outside of the pleadings in conjunction with this motion. As such, the court will convert it from a motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment, as required by Rule 12(d). ET Lawn Care LLC Having carefully considered the evidence and arguments raised by counsel in multiple briefs and at two separate hearings, the court concludes that U.S. Lawns is not Wright's statutory employer under Title VII. Applying the factors outlined by the Fourth Circuit in Butler v. Drive Automotive Industries of America, Inc., 793 F.3d 404 (4th Cir. 2015), the court finds that U.S. Lawns and Mountain View were not Wright's joint employers for purposes of Title VII liability. Nor can U.S. Lawns be held liable under the single, integrated employer theory of liability or an apparent agency theory. U.S. Lawn's motion therefore will be GRANTED and Wright's claims against U.S. Lawns DISMISSED.
I.
Plaintiff Lisa Wright filed her complaint on May 11, 2015, alleging gender discrimination, harassment and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., against Mountain View Lawn Care, LLC and U.S. Lawns, Inc. Wright alleges she began work "for US Lawns (plaintiff is not certain of the precise legal name of her employer or the legal relationship, if any, between Mountain View Lawn Care LLC and US Lawns, Inc.)" in March 2014 as a landscapes Compl., ECF No. 1, at ¶ 7. She further alleges that:
(6) On information and belief, defendant Mountain View Lawn Care LLC and US Lawns, Inc. are corporate entities doing business in the western district of Virginia and elsewhere. At all times material hereto defendants operated as a "joint employer" under federal law and are and were a "person" within the meaning of Title VII, Section 701, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(a). On information and belief, at all times material hereto defendant is and was an "employer" within the meaning of Title VII, Section 701, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b), that is, at all times material hereto defendant is and was a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce which had fifteen (15) or more employees for each working day in each of twenty (20) or more calendar weeks during the years of plaintiffs employment or the preceding calendar year.
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