UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA VICTORIA FELONI, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 22-2094 (JEB) ALEJANDRO N. MAYORKAS, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff Victoria Feloni is a former employee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement who unsuccessfully sought to become a Deportation Officer. ICE requires that male and female trainees for that position meet the same physical-fitness standards, which Plaintiff could not attain. Feloni alleges that this policy has an adverse impact on women and that her eventual termination from ICE amounts to discrimination on the basis of sex. She also brings a disparate- treatment claim in this lawsuit, as well as counts for disability discrimination and retaliation. Defendant Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE, now moves to dismiss, arguing that the Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over certain of Plaintiff’s claims and that the remainder are unsubstantiated. The Court will grant the Motion in part and deny it in part. I. Background The Court at this stage sets forth the facts as pled in the Complaint, assuming them to be true. See Sparrow v. United Air Lines, Inc., 216 F.3d 1111, 1113 (D.C. Cir. 2000). Feloni joined ICE as a GS-07 Deportation Officer in the Burlington, Massachusetts, field office on April 14, 2019, which position was contingent on her completing a Physical Ability Assessment 1 (PAA) at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). See ECF No. 1 (Compl.), ¶¶ 11, 18. The PAA consists of two elements: (1) the Criterion Task Testing (CTT), which is a timed obstacle course; and (2) a 1.5-mile run, which trainees must complete in under 16 minutes and 30 seconds. Id., ¶ 12. Unlike many other law-enforcement agencies, ICE requires that male and female trainees meet the same fitness standards. Id. Feloni took the PAA for the first time on May 8, 2019, but did not satisfy the CTT component. Id., ¶ 20. As a consequence, she alleges that she was entitled to perform remedial testing, which included a push-up component, although Feloni does not make clear how these remedial tests related to the PAA and CTT. Id., ¶ 11, 22. The first time she attempted the push- up component, her knee touched the ground while completing the exercises; the second time, a training instructor determined that Plaintiff had moved her left hand. Id., ¶¶ 22–23. Feloni alleges that this instructor, who proceeded to “scream at [her] in front of everyone,” singled her out because of her gender. Id., ¶ 23. Plaintiff thus failed the training program and departed FLETC on May 16, 2019. Id., ¶¶ 23–24. After pandemic-related delays, Feloni returned to FLETC in September 2020 to attempt the PAA again. Id., ¶ 25. This time, presumably because of her prior failure to successfully finish the PAA, ICE required her to complete both prongs in an even shorter time period. Id., ¶ 26. Despite this more stringent standard, Plaintiff completed the CTT within the required time. Id., ¶ 27. She unfortunately finished the …
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