Opinion ID: 201249
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Topical Summary of the Evidence

Text: 52 On topics important to establishing a political discrimination claim, the evidence that we have reviewed through the Rule 50 lens establishes the following propositions.
53 Defendants rescinded the 1997 plan and reassigned several hundred employees, including Vazquez, in accordance with the 1991 plan. Sanchez testified that she advised Santiago to seek advice before deciding to rescind the 1997 plan. Santiago's uncontradicted testimony was that he did indeed seek such advice. As we have described, the nature of that advice was kept from the jury at trial. 54 Sanchez testified that the people whom she knew who were affected by the reclassification plan were NPP members. Rivera also testified that affected employees belonged to the NPP. However, the kind of personnel review undertaken by defendants necessarily would impact more NPP members because of the long dominance of the NPP over municipal affairs. Indeed, Santiago agreed with plaintiff's counsel that approximately seventy-five to eighty percent of the employees of Toa Baja are members of the NPP, and Rivera herself explained, because the employees who were given permanence in '97 [when the NPP had been in control of the city government for over twenty years], well, those were the employees who would be subjected to the application of the law in which their permanence would be taken away from them. 55 Santiago's uncontradicted testimony was that nearly half of the employees affected by the personnel changes actually received higher salaries. Plaintiff neither rebutted this testimony nor offered any evidence that there was a disparity — by political affiliation or otherwise — between those who received higher salaries and those who received lower salaries under the new reclassifications. 14
56 Vazquez lacked sufficient work to occupy her time from January through August 2001 (less the two months when she was on leave). When Vazquez sent a letter to her immediate supervisor, Martinez, detailing her lack of work projects during this time, Martinez began assigning Vazquez adequate work. Additionally, Vazquez was demoted from Executive Director II to Office Worker/Typist I effective February 1, 2002. A hearing officer found that the reassignment was valid because Vazquez previously had been illegally hired and promoted. 57 Sanchez and Cordova testified that Vazquez met the minimum qualifications for each of the positions to which she had been appointed. However, Sanchez admitted that the municipality generally did not follow the procedural requirements for personnel actions. Plaintiff never offered any clear evidence or testimony that her appointments either met these procedural requirements or were eligible for an exception to any of the requirements. In fact, Vazquez admitted that she was promoted without going through the regular competitive process or serving the normally required probationary period. Furthermore, Delgado's uncontradicted testimony was that there was no material in Vazquez's personnel file to show either that the procedural requirements were followed or that Vazquez's appointments were eligible for an exception to the usual procedural requirements. 58 Taking the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, Vazquez arguably established that she did not need to comply with the normal appointment procedures when she assumed the position of Executive Director II because that position was simply a reclassification of the position of Assistant Director. However, Vazquez's demotion to Office Worker/Typist I was premised on the alleged illegality of her appointment to Secretary III, not on any ineligibility to be reassigned from Assistant Director to Executive Director II.
59 At the May 22 meeting, where fifteen to eighteen NPP employees received letters adjusting their positions within the municipality, the Mayor stated that the Popular Democratic Party had won. That they had to adopt actions with employees, that they had to clean house and that they were going to deliver letters to us in which there would be changes in our salaries or our permanence.... 15 Plaintiff presented evidence of one other statement evincing discriminatory intent or animus: Martinez, plaintiff's direct supervisor and a non-party in this case, said at a gathering something like [w]ell, hopefully they will kill all the NPPers.
60 Rivera, a member of the PDP, offered what is best characterized as lay opinion testimony: she thought political retaliation was occurring in her department under Martinez, based on her observation that Vazquez and one other employee were not fully occupied with work, at least for some period of time. Rivera testified that if I saw anything or understood that there would be any persecution, that I would rather resign and that is what I did. Additionally, Rivera said at one point that after having lunch with Delgado and Martinez, she saw that they thought differently than the way I thought. There is also an ambiguous reference to remarks that might be out of order in Rivera's testimony. Rivera also testified that her relationship with Martinez soured over Rivera's perception of political persecution in the workplace. 61 However, Rivera also testified that she and Delgado did not talk about politics, and that the only political comment Delgado made to her was one that had to do with the process when letters were to be delivered that there would be equality — let's say that the salaries were going to be lowered or if their permanency was going to be removed, well, then it would be the same for everyone notwithstanding the person [or regardless of the pressure] involved. This testimony by plaintiff's own witness establishes that Delgado indicated that the reclassifications would be done with equality and that changes in permanence or salaries would be implemented regardless of the people affected (or the pressure involved). This testimony — elicited by plaintiff's counsel during her case-in-chief — supports defendants' claims that they implemented the reclassifications in a neutral manner.