Opinion ID: 202202
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of the Evidence of Harassment and Retaliation

Text: 49 We review de novo the district court's denial of the defense motions under Rule 50 for judgment as a matter of law. White v. N.H. Dep't of Corr., 221 F.3d 254, 259 (1st Cir.2000). We review the evidence and draw inferences from it in the light most favorable to the verdict, making no determinations of our own as to the credibility of witnesses or the weight of the evidence, reversing only if a reasonable person could not have reached the conclusion of the jury. Id. The jury was not asked to distinguish among hostile work environment, other forms of sexual harassment (such as quid pro quo), and retaliation in finding liability under Title VII and Law 17. Each and every potential basis of liability was supported by ample evidence.
50 There are two themes to the defendants' arguments. The first is that the incidents here were too minimal to support a hostile work environment or quid pro quo claim as a matter of law. The second is a back-door attack on Valentín's credibility. The second can be quickly dispatched. Credibility of witnesses is simply not a basis for attacking a jury verdict in a sufficiency of the evidence challenge. See id. 51 As for the first defense theory, the jury, which heard the witnesses, rejected the defense of triviality and, on the facts here, was entitled to do so. The picture painted by the defense focuses on Cruz' comments and argues that any woman, particularly a police officer, could handle them. The defense ignores the conduct of Cruz — his constant efforts at physical proximity, his repeatedly cruising by Valentín's house, the so-called chance meeting at the shopping mall, his leaving a note under the windshield wiper of her car saying she was his. The defense also ignores that the repeated visits of the Commissioner, Cruz, and Ferrer while Valentín was working at the state police station made her so uncomfortable that she was unable to continue working. 52 The defense ignores that Cruz threatened to and did make compliance with his demands a condition of avoiding punishment at work. He threatened Valentín that she would be screwed if she would not react more affectionately to his unwanted advances. The threat was not an empty one. He had already seen to it that she received unfavorable work assignments: he effectively admitted to her at Las Cascadas that her continued posting there was his doing (through his and his friend Ferrer's mutual control over the work assignments), and that it could be avoided if she would acquiesce. Valentín was removed from the privileged traffic division and singled out for extra double shifts and for extended posting at Las Cascadas, above and beyond what ordinarily would be expected. And the jury could conclude that Cruz delivered an admonishment letter to Valentín, had his friend Ferrer do the same, and had his friend Vélez simultaneously deliver news of a month-and-a-half-old internal complaint, as a form of reprisal for her refusal to give in to his demands (and as a method of deterring her from complaining to the Commissioner).
53 The Municipality argues that there was insufficient evidence of retaliation. 9 This argument is without merit. 54 In October 2000, Valentín engaged in protected conduct by complaining about Cruz' sexual harassment to Norma Gonzalez, attempting to complain to the Commissioner, and complaining to Vélez. All three were proper people to whom to complain. And beginning in that very same month, Valentín was assigned extra double shifts, removed from her favorable traffic duty, and given an unusually long posting at Las Cascadas, where the work was remote and solitary. The jury could easily regard the totality of these assignments, following swiftly on the heels of her complaints, as well as the disciplinary letters, as adverse employment actions caused by Valentín's complaints. 55 On February 14, 2001, Valentín said she was going to complain to the Commissioner, and Cruz responded as soon as she arrived by giving her an admonishment letter. When Valentín reiterated her desire to speak with the Commissioner, Vélez gave her a document about an alleged disciplinary problem, and Ferrer gave her another admonishment letter. The letters were adverse employment actions. See Calero-Cerezo, 355 F.3d at 25 (memorandum of admonishment is adverse employment action). The jury could find that they were causally related to Valentín's protected conduct, both in the recent past and as contemplated in the immediate future — although her stated intentions to pursue the matter that very day never came to fruition, because she was driven past the breaking point by these very tactics. 56 The Municipality does not, on appeal, address any of these pre-termination incidents. It focuses only on termination. Even assuming this narrow focus to be warranted, it fails. 57 On February 26, 2001, Valentín filed an administrative complaint about the sexual harassment and retaliation that she had suffered to date. On January 3, 2003, she filed this lawsuit. By the end of that month, she had been terminated. 10 The Municipality says this was not an adverse employment action because it was a statutory termination that became self-executing when Valentín failed to avail herself of certain procedures under Puerto Rico law. The Municipality relies on P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 11, § 7, part of the Workmen's Compensation Act. That provision provides that an employer must reserve the position of an employee out on disability (as Valentín was here) and reinstate her, provided, inter alia, that the employee demands reinstatement within a year of the date her job-related disability began. Id. § 7(1). The Municipality argues, on the basis of this provision, that Valentín's termination was statutory because she took too long to seek reinstatement. 11 The Municipality uses this same argument to say that even if Valentín made a prima facie showing of retaliation, it rebutted that showing by proving that it had a legitimate reason for the termination and that it would have taken the same action in any event, to comply with § 7. 58 Nothing in this provision of Puerto Rico law means that the employer is obliged to terminate an employee, even after a year has elapsed. The Municipality suggests that this provision, meant to protect disabled workers, somehow creates a duty to fire them if they have not requested reinstatement by a certain time, even if the employers are willing to grant extra time. The suggestion that the Municipality had to terminate Valentín to comply with this provision, or that hers was a statutory termination, contravenes the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico's clear policy that the Workmen's Compensation Act must be liberally construed in favor of those whom it seeks to protect. García Díaz v. Darex P.R., Inc., 148 P.R. Dec. 364, 374 n. 11 (P.R.1999) (certified translation supplied by defendants); see also Rivera-Flores v. P.R. Tel. Co., 64 F.3d 742, 750-51 (1st Cir.1995). The Municipality was free to reinstate Valentín at any time, whether or not a year had passed. 59 Although the Municipality did not have to fire Valentín, we assume arguendo that the duration of Valentín's second, extended absence from work could have been a legitimate reason for termination of her employment. Even so, the jury was not compelled to find that this was in fact the cause of her termination, or that the termination was not an adverse employment action. 12 60