In Lynch v. Elite Ambulance Company, No. 2:25-CV-427-TLS-JEM, 2026 WL 2820020 (N.D. Ind. Sept. 14, 2026), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claim of national origin discrimination asserted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
From the decision:
The Complaint alleges that the Plaintiff is Hispanic and that the Defendant terminated her based on discrimination.
The Plaintiff’s discrimination claim falls under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(a)(1). See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1) (“It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer…to discharge any individual…because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”). The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has “stated that a plaintiff alleging employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex or some other factor governed by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2 may allege the defendant’s intent quite generally: ‘I was turned down for a job because of my race’ is all a complaint has to say.” E.E.O.C. v. Concentra Health Servs., Inc., 496 F.3d 773, 781 (7th Cir. 2007) (quoting Bennett v. Schmidt, 153 F.3d 516, 518 (7th Cir. 1998)); see Tamayo v. Blagojevich, 526 F.3d 1074, 1084 (7th Cir. 2008) (quoting Concentra, 496 F.3d at 781–82); Thomas v. JBS Green Bay, Inc., 120 F.4th 1335, 1338 (7th Cir. 2024) (“But the time to demand evidence is the summary-judgment stage. All the complaint need do is state a grievance. Details and proofs come later.”).
Here, the Defendant argues that the Plaintiff’s national origin discrimination claim fails because the Complaint does not allege facts supporting a plausible inference that her termination occurred because of her Hispanic ethnicity. The Plaintiff adds in her response that she is also claiming discrimination based on termination by the Defendant because on her mother’s side she is of Apache descent.
Drawing the inferences in her favor as the Court must on a motion to dismiss, there are sufficient factual allegations to infer that the Plaintiff was terminated because of her Hispanic ethnicity. See Concentra, 496 F.3d at 781. However, the Plaintiff’s Complaint does not mention her Apache descent, and the Defendant did not move for dismissal on such basis. Accordingly, the Court finds that the allegations in the Complaint sufficiently state a claim for discrimination for termination by the Defendant based on the Plaintiff’s Hispanic ethnicity.
Based on this, the court held that dismissal was not warranted.