Opinion ID: 196727
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lopez and Izquierdo

Text: 9 We treat Lopez' and Izquierdo's respective appeals together because the same case law governs both. 10 The district court found that Lopez failed to present a prima facie case. It found that while she satisfied the first three required elements of the prima facie case--she belongs to the protected class, her job performance was adequate, and she was discharged--she failed to satisfy the fourth element. That is, she failed to show either that Iberia did not treat age neutrally or that younger persons were retained in the same position. Here we assume, without concluding, that Lopez has demonstrated a prima facie case, since doing so does not alter the outcome of our analysis. In contrast, the district court concluded that Izquierdo demonstrated a prima facie case, but that he failed to present sufficient evidence for a reasonable trier of fact to infer that Iberia's decision to terminate him was motivated by age animus. 11 On appeal, Lopez argues that the district court erred because, in fact, she did produce evidence both that Iberia did not treat age neutrally and that younger persons were retained to do her functions. With respect to age neutrality, Lopez asserts that Iberia never considered her seniority in its decision to terminate her, as she argues is required by Puerto Rico Law No. 80. 2 However, she cites no authority for the proposition, which we reject, that Puerto Rico Law modifies the ADEA to take into account discrimination against more senior employees, not just older employees. She also points to the fact that, during the reduction in force, she was not offered employment alternatives made available to Galo Beltran (Beltran) (age 35) and Ernesto Rodriguez (Rodriguez) (age 48). Furthermore, Lopez also maintains that her functions were taken over by a younger employee, Alga Rivera (Rivera) (age 33), hired soon after Lopez' termination. 12 Similarly, Izquierdo (age 45) contends on appeal that the fact that he was not considered for retention or immediate re-hiring as a Sales Agent, as Beltran and Rodriguez 3 were, shows that Iberia did not treat age neutrally in the course of its reduction in force. Izquierdo also alludes to a younger individual in a different department than Sales, who was allegedly offered the opportunity to continue work at a lower salary. However, since Izquierdo failed to proffer any evidence that this other department experienced a reduction in force at a similar time period, or that Izquierdo was qualified for this position, it would plainly be unreasonable to infer a lack of age neutrality from this evidence. As a result, we consider only Izquierdo's arguments regarding Beltran and Rodriguez. We note that Izquierdo does not point to evidence contravening Iberia's position that Beltran and Rodriguez were simply re-hired at lower pay to do the same job they had done previously. Neither Lopez or Izquierdo has argued or adduced evidence that Sales Agents Beltran and Rodriguez were not, as the district court concluded, occupying positions below that of Coordinators Lopez 4 and Izquierdo. 13 In Holt v. Gamewell Corp., 797 F.2d 36, 38 (1st Cir.1986), we confronted arguments similar to those of Lopez and Izquierdo. In that case, the appellant manager argued that, in lieu of dismissing him, his employer should have discharged one of the employees he supervised and given that job to appellant. Thus, we rejected that argument as unsupported by legal authority, as in the instant case, and as requiring that the court encroach too far into areas which should be left to the company's legitimate management. Id. at 38. 14 The Second Circuit's opinion in Parcinski v. Outlet Co., 673 F.2d 34, 37 (2d Cir.1982), provides a strong statement of the concerns to which Holt alludes. Considering an argument resembling that of the instant case and of the appellant in Holt, the court stated that: 15 Assuming there were lower echelon, poorer paying jobs in the restructured enterprise which [appellants] were qualified to fill, [the employer] would be met with serious morale problems arising out of the substantial reductions in responsibilities and salaries that would accompany such moves. 16 Id.; see Ridenour v. Lawson Co., 791 F.2d 52, 57 (6th Cir.1986) (stating that [w]here an employer reduces his workforce for economic reasons, it incurs no duty to transfer an employee to another position within the company); Sahadi v. Reynolds Chem., 636 F.2d 1116, 1117 (6th Cir.1980). 17 In accord with the reasoning behind these cases, we conclude that we must reject Lopez' and Izquierdo's arguments comparing their dismissals to Iberia's treatment of Beltran and Rodriguez, and Lopez' argument with respect to Rivera. Even assuming, without holding, that Lopez and Izquierdo stated prima facie cases, we reject their arguments that anti-age animus can be reasonably inferred from the fact that they were not offered alternative employment opportunities, as Beltran and Rodriguez were. Accordingly, we also reject Lopez' argument that discriminatory animus can be reasonably inferred from the hiring of Rivera for a position inferior to Lopez' previous job as Coordinator B. Because we conclude that the evidence adduced by Lopez and Izquierdo, taken as true, cannot suffice to support a reasonable inference of anti-age animus, we uphold the district court's grant of summary judgment on their ADEA claims.