Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A.

Facts

Swierkiewicz was a native of Hungary and was 53 years old when he filed his complaint. In April 1989 he began work for Sorema N.A., a reinsurance company headquartered in New York and principally owned and controlled by a French parent corporation. He started as senior vice president and chief underwriting officer. Nearly six years later, Sorema's Chief Executive Officer, Chavel, a French national, demoted him to a marketing and services position. Chavel moved most of Swierkiewicz's underwriting duties to Papadopoulo, a 32-year-old French national. About a year later, Chavel said he wanted to energize the underwriting department and named Papadopoulo chief underwriting officer. Swierkiewicz alleged that Papadopoulo had only one year of underwriting experience, while he had 26 years in the insurance industry. He also alleged that, after the demotion, Chavel isolated him and excluded him from business decisions and meetings. In April 1997 he sent Chavel a memo outlining his grievances and requesting a severance package. Two weeks later, Sorema's general counsel gave him two options: resign without severance or be dismissed. Chavel fired him when he refused to resign. Because the case came up on a motion to dismiss, the Court accepted the complaint's factual allegations as true.

Issues

1. Must a complaint in an employment discrimination lawsuit contain specific facts establishing a prima facie case of discrimination under the McDonnell Douglas framework in order to survive a motion to dismiss?
2. Did Swierkiewicz's complaint satisfy the pleading requirement of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2)?

Holding

An employment discrimination plaintiff need not plead a prima facie case of discrimination. Swierkiewicz's complaint gave fair notice of his national origin and age claims and was sufficient to survive Sorema's motion to dismiss. The Second Circuit's heightened pleading standard was wrong.