Emma Fendel, who identifies as LGBTQ+, was hired in March 2021 as Assistant General Manager of a Courtyard by Marriott in Charlotte, North Carolina, owned by Shreeji Hotel Group, LLC and managed by Hotel Equities, LLC. In February 2023, Fendel notified Hotel Equities that she would need three separate leaves of absence for medically necessary, gender-affirming care for gender dysphoria done in multiple stages. Hotel Equities approved each request, and Fendel completed her first two leaves without incident.
The dispute centers on what happened just before Fendel's third approved leave was set to begin. On or about March 1, 2024 — two days before the leave was to start — Shreeji Hotel Group informed Fendel it was assuming control of management of the hotel. That same day, Fendel's Regional Manager told her that her position was being eliminated effective March 31, 2024. Shreeji Hotel Group later claimed to the EEOC that the move was a legitimate business decision to eliminate all Assistant General Manager positions across its portfolio. Fendel alleges that was false, and that Shreeji Hotel Group retained other Assistant General Managers at other properties.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell, writing for the Western District of North Carolina, denied Shreeji Hotel Group's motion to dismiss. The court applied a functional-employer analysis, drawing on circuit precedent holding that the term employer under Title VII and the ADA should be construed in a functional sense to encompass persons who are not employers in conventional terms, but who nevertheless control some aspect of the individual's compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. The court noted that Shreeji Hotel Group's owners allegedly visited the hotel regularly and asked about Fendel's medical situation, and that Shreeji Hotel Group — not Hotel Equities — was alleged to be the sole decision-maker regarding the termination challenged as unlawful.
Hotel Equities fared differently. The court granted its motion to dismiss, concluding that the amended complaint contained no factual allegation that Hotel Equities discriminated against Fendel based on gender, failed to accommodate any disability, or violated the FMLA. To the contrary, the court noted, Hotel Equities approved every leave request and allowed Fendel to return to work each time — until Shreeji Hotel Group took over. The court also noted that the amended complaint contained no allegation that Fendel had requested any ADA accommodation at all.
The court declined to reach Hotel Equities' timeliness argument — which turned on whether the amended complaint, filed outside the 90-day window after Fendel received a Right to Sue letter, could relate back to the original complaint under Rule 15(c) — because the claims failed on the merits regardless.
The case, docketed as 3:25-CV-00865-KDB-DCK, proceeds against Shreeji Hotel Group on Fendel's Title VII, ADA, and FMLA claims.