Heinrich v. School District Number 1 in The City and County of Denver

Filing 20

ORDER DISMISSING CASE for failure to state a claim, by Judge Richard P. Matsch on 7/28/2014. (jsmit)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Senior District Judge Richard P. Matsch
Civil Action No. 13-cv-03147-RPM
CAROL HEINRICH,
Plaintiff,
v.
SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER 1, in the CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER a/k/a
DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS,
Defendant.
_____________________________________________________________________
ORDER OF DISMISSAL
_____________________________________________________________________
Carol Heinrich alleges in her amended complaint that her retirement as a teacher
employed by the defendant School District in January, 2011, was because the treatment
of her as a kindergarten teacher in Ellis Elementary School by the principal created a
hostile work environment which made conditions of her employment so intolerable that
she had no choice but to retire. She claims a constructive discharge in violation of the
Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621, et seq. The factual allegations
of the amended complaint, taken as true, are not sufficient to assert a plausible claim
that the employer created such an environment as would cause a reasonable person in
the plaintiff’s position to believe that she had no choice but to resign. Mackenzie v. City
and County of Denver, 414 F. 3d 1266, 1281 (10th Cir. 2005).
What is alleged is that the school principal subjected her to intense scrutiny of
performance, made a statement concerning older teachers and presented her with an
improvement plan which was impossible to complete with the threat that failure to
complete would result in her termination. The implausibility is enhanced by the fact that

Ms. Heinrich was a non-probationary teacher protected both by statute and the
collective bargaining agreement, making it unlikely that the principal could proceed
successfully with his threat of termination without providing her with an opportunity to
challenge that action.
Because of the inadequacy of the amended complaint, it is
ORDERED that this civil action is dismissed for failure to state a claim.
DATED: July 28th , 2014
BY THE COURT:
s/Richard P. Matsch
__________________________
Richard P. Matsch, Senior Judge

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