United States District Court, D. Connecticut
RULING AND ORDER ON DISCOVERY DISPUTES AND AMENDMENT
OF PRE-TRIAL SCHEDULE
Victor
A. Bolden, United States District Judge.
On May
21, 2019, the Court held a telephonic discovery conference to
address several pending discovery matters in this employment
discrimination action. Minute Entry, dated May 23, 2019, ECF
No. 35.
For the
reasons that follow, the Court will permit the discovery
sought by Plaintiff, but limit it to ensure it is both
relevant and proportional to the needs of the case.
I.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A.
Factual Allegations
Atila
Bayat (“Plaintiff”) worked for Accenture
Corporation LLC (“Defendant” or
“Accenture”) as a Software Engineering Team Lead
from February 2015 to September 2016. See Complaint,
dated Sept. 24, 2018 (“Compl.”), ECF No. 1, at
12, 16. Primarily based in the Hartford, Connecticut office,
he allegedly worked on consulting engagements for Accenture
both locally and out of state. Id. at 12.
Beginning
in May 2016, Mr. Bayat allegedly “repeatedly brought to
the attention of managers and personnel concerns about H1B,
[1] and
B1 personnel on U.S. based projects, foreign labor preference
versus U.S. workers and placement on its projects to the
detriment of U.S. Citizen employees, and the lack of
collaboration on the part of management to place U.S. workers
on projects in the US, where it does most of its
business.” Id. at 15.
Accenture
allegedly responded to these complaints with
“indifference, and retaliation in many forms”
including: (1) denying him a normal salary review; (2) not
placing him on projects conservatively within his range of
experience; (3) preventing him from completing
“training tracks” that he was in; (4) giving
“foreign nationals” preference for those
“training tracks”; and (5) terminating him on
September 7, 2016. Id. at 16.
B.
Procedural History
On
September 24, 2018, Mr. Bayat sued Accenture, alleging,
inter alia, claims under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §
2000e et seq., and the Age Discrimination in
Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621
et seq. See Compl.
On
November 21, 2018, Accenture filed its Answer, denying all
substantive allegations of liability under these statutes and
asserting affirmative defenses. See Answer, dated
Nov. 21, 2018, ECF No. 20.
On
December 19, 2018, the Court held a telephonic scheduling
conference with the parties. Minute Entry, dated Dec. 20,
2018, ECF No. 26.
The
following day, December 20, 2018, the Court issued an Initial
Scheduling Order, with discovery set to close by July 12,
2019. Initial Scheduling Order, dated Jul. 12, 2019, ECF No.
28.
On
April 29, 2019, Mr. Bayat filed a motion to compel discovery.
Motion to ...