Zhanga E. Peabody v. Thermo Fischer Scientific Inc.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Oregon adopts a magistrate judge’s findings and recommendation and grants Thermo Fischer Scientific Inc.’s motion to dismiss in part. The court permits the Oregon whistleblower-retaliation claim to proceed, dismisses the Title VII retaliation and wrongful-termination claims without leave to amend, and dismisses the race, national-origin, and age-discrimination claims with leave to amend.

Holdings

1. When no party objects, the district court may review a magistrate judge's findings and recommendation for clear error on the face of the record and, finding no clear error, may adopt the recommendation.
2. Reporting safety violations is not protected activity within the meaning of Title VII; therefore, the Title VII portion of Claim 1 was properly dismissed without leave to amend.
3. A common-law wrongful-termination claim is unavailable when the plaintiff has an adequate statutory remedy for the same alleged retaliation; the wrongful-termination claim was therefore dismissed without leave to amend.
4. Claims 2 and 3 were dismissed with leave to amend because the complaint did not establish that amendment would be futile.
5. The portion of Claim 1 based on ORS § 659A.199 was not dismissed and may proceed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court should adopt the magistrate judge's Findings and Recommendation when no party filed objections.
2. Whether reporting safety violations constitutes protected activity under Title VII.
3. Whether the common-law wrongful-termination claim is precluded when an available statutory retaliation remedy exists under Oregon law.
4. Whether the race- and national-origin discrimination and age-discrimination claims should be dismissed with leave to amend.

Disposition

other