Opinion ID: 195629
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence of Discriminatory Animus

Text: 6 Jirau contends that the summary judgment must be set aside because the district court ignored or discounted evidence sufficient to generate a trialworthy issue as to whether the defendants harbored a discriminatory animus. We review the grant of summary judgment de novo, under the same standards incumbent on the district court, to determine whether the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Velez-Gomez v. SMA Life Assurance Co., 8 F.3d 873, 874-75 (1st Cir.1993). We view the record evidence, and draw all fair inferences, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Id. 7 A plaintiff asserting a political discrimination claim under the First Amendment bears the preliminary burden of producing competent direct or circumstantial evidence that political affiliation played a substantial role in the adverse employment decision. Ferrer v. Zayas, 914 F.2d 309, 311 (1st Cir.1990). See Anthony v. Sundlun, 952 F.2d 603, 605 (1st Cir.1991). The district court aptly observed that mere evidence that Jirau had been demoted--by reassignment to a nonsupervisory position at reduced salary--was insufficient evidence of discriminatory animus, because it is entirely consistent with defendants' reorganization defense. However, Jirau proffered other circumstantial evidence probative of possible discriminatory motivation: (1) all defendants were known PDP members, while Jirau and all her fellow demotees were members of the opposition NPP, see, e.g., Acevedo-Diaz v. Aponte, 1 F.3d 62, 69 (1st Cir.1993); Rodriguez-Pinto v. Tirado-Delgado, 982 F.2d 34, 40 (1st Cir.1993); Kercado-Melendez v. Aponte-Roque, 829 F.2d 255, 264 (1st Cir.1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1044, 108 S.Ct. 2037, 100 L.Ed.2d 621 (1988); and (2) plaintiffs' previous positions, though formally abolished, were promptly reconstituted under different titles and filled by known PDP members, see, e.g., Rodriguez-Pinto, 982 F.2d at 40. Most importantly, however, Jirau proffered direct evidence of a discriminatory motivation: the affidavit attesting to defendant Hernandez Gaya's statement that the UPR administration had to select its own team, loyal to the ideology of the party in power. E.g., Acevedo-Diaz, 1 F.3d at 69-70 n. 6 (defendant allegedly told plaintiff that she was not a person of trust); Nereida-Gonzalez v. Tirado-Delgado, 990 F.2d 701, 706 (1st Cir.1993) (defendants told plaintiff outright she would be demoted because of her NPP affiliation); Aviles-Martinez v. Monroig, 963 F.2d 2, 6-7 (1st Cir.1992) (defendant asked plaintiff whether he had met with NPP members). Assuming its truth, as we must on summary judgment, see Velez-Gomez, 8 F.3d at 877, this affidavit satisfied the threshold burden of proof incumbent on Jirau for present purposes. 8 The magistrate-judge's reliance on Jirau's failure to rebut the reorganization defense was flawed. First Amendment political discrimination claims are not subject to the Title VII burden-shifting device. Whereas a Title VII claimant retains the burden of proof throughout, even after the burden of limited production has shifted to the Title VII defendant to assert a nondiscriminatory motivation for the challenged action, in the First Amendment context Jirau successfully foisted the burden of proof onto these defendants simply by meeting her own threshold burden of persuasion. See Acevedo-Diaz, 1 F.3d at 66-67 (contrasting Burdine and Mt. Healthy burden shifting). Defendants were required to establish the absence of a trialworthy dispute as to whether efficiency was their only motivation for the Jirau demotion. Summary judgment would have been warranted, in other words, only if defendants' evidentiary proffer compelled the finding that political discrimination did not constitute a but for cause for the demotion. See id. at 68. Since the affidavit directly evidenced a discriminatory animus at odds with their reorganization defense, and required credibility determinations appropriate to the trier of fact, defendants were not entitled to summary judgment. 9 Secondly, though Jirau was not required to meet the reorganization defense in order to avert summary judgment, she did so. Notwithstanding defendants' proffer that the Agricultural Extension Service and its directors had proven inefficient, Jirau countered with several affidavits from former UPR officials attesting to her efficiency, as well as the efficiency of her co-workers and department. See id. at 71 (evidence that plaintiff efficiently performed job may rebut reorganization defense) (citing cases). Thus, Jirau's rebuttal evidence likewise generated a credibility dispute critical to the reorganization defense and appropriate for resolution by the trier of fact. 10