UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IRMA PORTILLO, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 17-1083 (RDM) IL CREATIONS INC., Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiff Irma Portillo, a former employee at the Uncommon Café, is suing Defendant IL Creations Inc., the restaurant’s owner, for race/national origin discrimination, gender and pregnancy discrimination, and retaliation, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The matter is before the Court on Defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Dkt. 13. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will GRANT summary judgment in favor of Defendant on Portillo’s pregnancy discrimination claim and will DENY summary judgment as to the remainder of her claims. I. BACKGROUND Portillo worked as a cashier at the Uncommon Café from June 2014 until her termination in August 2015. Dkt. 1 at 2 (Compl. ¶ 8). She alleges that, throughout her employment, her supervisor, Jiyoung Kim, forbade her from speaking Spanish at work, Dkt. 15 at 5 (Pl. Statement of Material Facts (“SMF”) ¶ 81) (citing Dkt. 15-13 at 9 (Portillo Dep.)); denied her request to sit on a stool during her shift to accommodate her pregnancy, id. at 6 (SMF ¶¶ 90–93) (citing Dkt. 15-13 at 11 (Portillo Dep.)); and treated her (and the other Hispanic employees) less favorably than the Korean employees at the restaurant, id. at 5, 7 (SMF ¶¶ 84, 96) (citing Dkt. 15-13 at 10, 18 (Portillo Dep.)). Things came to a head when the CEO of IL Creations Inc., Steven Choi, conducted a site visit in August 2015. Dkt. 13-1 at 4 (Def. Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (“SUMF”) ¶ 38). During the visit, Kim informed Choi that “Portillo would not listen to [her], or do what she instructed.” Dkt. 13-1 at 10 (Choi Aff. ¶ 12). Choi then requested to meet with Portillo, Kim, and Jose Lopez, the General Manager of the store. Dkt. 15-16 at 6 (Choi Dep.). It is undisputed that, at this meeting, Portillo repeatedly accused Kim of being “a racist,” see Dkt. 13- 1 at 10 (Choi Aff. ¶ 12); Dkt. 15 at 10–11 (Pl. SMF ¶¶ 110–113). In response, Choi terminated Portillo on the spot. Dkt. 13-1 at 10 (Choi Aff. ¶ 12). Defendant denies that either Kim or Choi engaged in any discriminatory or retaliatory conduct towards Portillo. With respect to Portillo’s allegations about Kim, Defendant contends that Kim was merely enforcing the company’s policies, which required employees to speak English in front of customers, Dkt. 13-1 at 4 (Def. SUMF ¶ 37) (citing id. at 31 (Yoo Aff. ¶ 9)), and prohibited cashiers from sitting at the register because “[it] was not an appropriate look,” id. (Def. SUMF ¶ 32) (citing id. at 31 (Yoo Aff. ¶ 7)). Moreover, Defendant argues that Kim did not favor the Korean employees. Rather, the only two Korean employees at Uncommon Café worked as chefs in the kitchen and were permitted to eat breakfast on the job and ...
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