Where an employee alleged Title VII discrimination, retaliation and hostile work environment claims based on her race, color and national origin, but most of the claims were time-barred and the remaining failed to state a claim, they were dismissed.
Background
Mary Wanjiku Thomas, proceeding pro se, sues the Virginia Department of Transportation, or VDOT, claiming that she was and continues to be discriminated against based on her race, color, national origin and disability. VDOT has moved to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6).
ADA
Beginning with Thomas’s disability discrimination and failure to accommodate claims brought pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, VDOT asserts that it is insulated from suit under the Eleventh Amendment and state sovereign immunity. However a plaintiff can defeat a state’s claim of immunity in federal court if: (1) Congress has abrogated the immunity; (2) the state expressly consents or waives its immunity or (3) the plaintiff seeks only prospective or injunctive relief against a state agent.
Here, Thomas cannot overcome VDOT’s sovereign immunity because none of these exceptions apply. First, in enacting Title I of the ADA, Congress did not abrogate sovereign immunity. Second, the state has not consented to be sued in state or federal court. Third, Thomas is seeking monetary damages in addition to prospective and injunctive relief against the state entity and not against a state...
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