Opinion ID: 202865
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Rodriguez-Garcia's Transfer

Text: Rodriguez-Garcia served as Executive Secretary for the Director of Public Works, Luisa Flores, from 1998 until her transfer in 2000. [2] In that position, she was required to open all incoming mail and enter it into a log. In 1999, Flores began receiving tickets to fundraisers and notices of leadership meetings for the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), the party to which both the mayor and Flores belonged. Rodriguez-Garcia suspected that the receipt of this material violated a rule prohibiting the use of government resources to further political campaigns. Nevertheless, she duly logged the materials and delivered them to Flores. Rodriguez-Garcia first discussed her concerns with Flores in 1999, but they were ignored. She then contacted a distant relative, Roberto Carrasquillo, who was a municipal assemblyman for the minority Puerto Rican Independence Party, (PIP). He confirmed the merit of her concerns and, with her permission, lodged a complaint with the Ethics Office. Rodriguez-Garcia was summoned to the Ethics Office to testify concerning her complaint on December 21, 1999, and she complied. On February 1, 2000, Flores reprimanded Rodriguez-Garcia in front of her co-workers for failing to perform one of her tasks. Rodriguez-Garcia acknowledges that this reprimand was unrelated to her testimony in the Ethics Office investigation. Upset, Rodriguez-Garcia left the office early and did not return to work the next day. Instead, she spent that day resting and on medication. [3] On February 3, she had a heated conversation with Flores about the missed day of work; shortly after that conversation, she passed out and required medical care. Her doctor advised her to rest, which she did until February 18. On that date, Rodriguez-Garcia delivered a copy of her medical release to the Human Resources Office (Human Resources). She then went to Vice Mayor Wilfredo Puig's office to discuss the doctor's recommendations and her intention to return to work. The contents of the conversation between Rodriguez-Garcia and Vice Mayor Puig are hotly contested. According to Rodriguez-Garcia, she told the vice mayor that, despite her doctor's recommendation that she not return to Public Works, she wanted to return because she thought she could work things out with Flores. She testified that Vice Mayor Puig then told her that Flores had showed him a copy of the mail log that Rodriguez-Garcia kept and that the Ethics Office was investigating the use of municipal resources to distribute political propaganda. Apparently unaware that Rodriguez-Garcia had already testified before the Ethics Office on this matter, Vice Mayor Puig suggested that she would be summoned to testify and asked her what she would say. At trial, Rodriguez-Garcia testified: I told him that I'd tell the truth. That I'd tell the truth because that was my job. According to Rodriguez-Garcia, Vice Mayor Puig told her that whatever truth I said could affect him, the Mayor and the party, and I told him that I was very sorry, but that was my job. He then told her that he could no longer count on me. Vice Mayor Puig recalled a very different conversation. He testified that Rodriguez-Garcia requested a transfer out of Public Works and that there was no discussion of the Ethics Office investigation. Shortly after this meeting, Rodriguez-Garcia was transferred out of her position at Public Works. After initial assignment to the Municipal Education Department, where she had no work to do, she was transferred to Federal Funds. Rodriguez-Garcia claims she did very little, practically nothing, at Federal Funds because the office already had an Executive Secretary; she alleges that this lack of work was intended to encourage her to quit municipal employment altogether. Rodriguez-Garcia testified that the lack of work made her feel bad, uncomfortable, ashamed, and depressed, and that it affected her home life: I locked myself in, within that problem, and I couldn't see beyond [it]. . . . and I forgot that the kids were growing up, that I had a husband, a mom, a family, and that became my life as a whole. In contrast, the Director of Federal Funds, Gilberto Charriez, testified that his office was understaffed and desperate for workers when Rodriguez-Garcia arrived and that she seemed happy in her new position. He also described ordering pizza on busy work nights when Rodriguez-Garcia stayed late with the rest of the staff to meet deadlines, lunches eaten together in a conference room, office Christmas parties and meeting Rodriguez-Garcia's family outside of work on social occasions.