Opinion ID: 2771327
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Factual Skeleton

Text: Because we are reviewing a summary judgment motion, we recite the facts in a light as favorable to [the workers] as the 1 One of the fourteen plaintiffs worked at the governor's country home, and not at the executive mansion. This variance does not affect our analysis. 2 The workers also appeal the district court's denial of their motion to reconsider the summary judgment decisions, which we address below. -3- record will reasonably allow. Velázquez-Pérez v. Developers Diversified Realty Corp., 753 F.3d 265, 267 (1st Cir. 2014). In November 2008, Fortuño, of Puerto Rico's New Progressive political party (NPP), defeated the incumbent, a member of the NPP's primary rival, to become Puerto Rico's newly elected governor. Fortuño took office on January 2, 2009, bringing on board a chief of staff, Juan Carlos Blanco-Urrutia (Blanco), and an administrator, Velmarie Berlingeri-Marín (Berlingeri). Through an executive order, Fortuño authorized Berlingeri to take any necessary actions and sign any necessary official documents related to the administration of the Office of the Governor, which included administering the executive mansion, where the governor lived and worked. A few days after taking office, Fortuño issued another executive order declaring a statewide fiscal emergency, authorizing a hiring freeze across state agencies, and requiring certain spending cuts. The executive order required each state agency to eliminate thirty percent of all authorized trust service positions. Relevant to this case, trust service employees -- one of several categories of employment types within the Puerto Rico government -- could be freely remove[d], or, in other words, terminated without cause. -4- Shortly after the executive order was issued, each of the plaintiffs (all of whom were trust employees)3 was let go either in February or March 2009, by way of written termination letters signed by Berlingeri. The termination letters (which were all identical in substance) did not provide a specific reason for the firings, citing only to the regulations allowing for trust service employees to be freely selected and freely dismissed. Berlingeri has since asserted that some of the workers were fired -- based on the recommendation of their immediate supervisors -- because of their poor work performance; others, she claimed, were fired due to the budget cuts.