UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA A WOKE GEBRETSADIKE, Plaintiff, v. Case No. 1:22-cv-1951-RCL DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION In this civil rights suit, plaintiff Awoke Gebretsadike, prose, alleges that defendants, the District of Columbia and several of its officers (together, "the District"), violated his statutory and constitutional rights by denying him pandemic unemployment assistance ("PUA") benefits and failing to make the application for those benefits, or assistance in completing the application process, available in his native language, Amharic. Before the Court is the District's motion to dismiss. ECF No. 8. For the following reasons, the Court. will GRANT in part and DENY in part the District's motion to dismiss. Specifically, the Court will DISMISS WITHOUT PREJUDICE Counts I and III-VI of the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and Count VII for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The Court will not dismiss Count II. I. BACKGROUND Gebretsadike is a resident of the District of Columbia whose "nation of origin language" is Amharic. Compl. at 2, ECF No. 1-2. He "used to have a living income from [his] self- employment prior to" the COVID-19 pandemic, but "the health measures [the] government took affected [his] living income," which depended on "tourists ... enter[ing] into the country." Id. 1 Due to the impact that public health measures in early 2020 had on his work, Gebretsadike applied for PUA administered by the D.C. Department of Employment Services ("DOES") pursuant to the CARES Act. Id. He was initially placed on a "waiting list," eventually gaining access to the PUA application on April 27, 2020. Id. Gebretsadike did not find the application "easy to understand or fill [out,]" especially because he had "never been in these state[] run unemployment systems before." Id. Accordingly, he "contacted [DOES] a lot of times for help and clarification" but received no help. Id. In particular, DOES did not provide the application or instructions in Amharic, and "[g]etting the applications interpreted and/or clarifying the jargon[] was [a] quite difficult task." Id. Nevertheless, Gebretsadike was able to complete the application by April 29, 2020, and he "continued to take the weekly actions necessary to keep qualifying for benefits." Id. When "DOES started depositing payments," Gebretsadike found himself receiving his benefits later than expected. Id. at 3. "[O]ther claimants started receiving ·payments within five days," but "DOES held [his] payments." Id. He "tried to contact DOES," but he was unable to receive Amharic-language assistance. Id. He then "tried to get professional interpreter[s] from other states and reached [out] to DOES for help." Id. DOES eventually paid him on June 8, 2020, over a month after he filed his application. Id. When he received his payment, it was less than what "other language and English speaking applicants who are less experienced" than him received. Id. DOES "made payments retroactively based on the [CARES Act] for other people but not for [him]." Id. He "repeatedly reached [out to] DOES for help and …
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