Opinion ID: 615207
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Colón's Employment at the Municipality

Text: Colón first began working for the Municipality in 1989 as a temporary worker. In 1992, the Municipality reclassified Colón as a regular employee. Colón's position with the Municipality was reclassified multiple times in subsequent years. Of significance to this appeal is her reclassification on June 30, 2006, when the Municipality appointed Colón as an Auction Officer, which became effective retroactively on May 1, 2005. Colón's position as an Auction Officer required that she, among other duties, analyze bid recommendations, prepare bid notices, contracts, and award notices, attend the openings and holdings of bids, submit bid proposals for recommendations, evaluate recommendations and submit them to the Bid Board, and direct administrative work concerning the bids and proposals among various departments. To perform these duties, the Auction Officer was required to be physically present in the Auction Department. Additionally, auction papers could not be removed from the auction office premises. As an Auction Officer, Colón worked in the Auction Department located in the Municipal Tower building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. [2] The Municipal Tower building is accessible from a multi-floor parking building that is adjacent to the Municipal Tower building. The Municipality pays rent for approximately four hundred parking spaces for its employees. The Municipality pays $40.00 and the employee pays $20.00 for each rental of a parking space. The Municipal Tower itself offers approximately seventy-five parking spaces. As an Auction Officer, Colón was under the supervision of several Municipality employees, all holding different managerial positions and varying degrees of authority over Colón during the years relevant to this dispute. These supervisors included José Alicea Rivera (Alicea), Municipal Secretary and President of the Municipality's Auction Board; Ivonne Rodríguez (Rodríguez), Director for the Purchases and Bids Department and one of Colón's main supervisors during the relevant period; Maria Marcano (Marcano), Rodríguez's first line supervisor in the Auction Department; Julia Lanzó (Lanzó), manager of the Auction Department; James Delgado (Delgado), an auction official who was second in command in the Auction Department and who served as acting manager if Lanzó was not present; and José Rivera-Hernández (Rivera), who served as the Special Assistant of the Municipal Secretary and who verified that all persons parked in the Municipal Tower parking lot were authorized to do so. Generally, the Municipality scheduled Colón to work from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. during the week. Due to health problems, however, Colón developed a pattern of absenteeism that continued throughout her employment. [3] Her recurring absences made it necessary for her supervisors to temporarily shift Colón's work schedule and assignments in order to accommodate her absences and minimize work conflicts. Several of Colón's supervisors testified as to the quality of Colón's work performance and overall attendance during her tenure. For instance, Lanzó testified that in terms of the performance of her work, Nitza [Colón] was excellent. Lanzó acknowledged that despite her excellent work performance, she would have liked for [Colón] not to get sick and to come to work more often. Lanzó also noted that regardless of any health issues Colón might have undergone during her employment, she would perform her tasks . . . [,] [i]n that sense I have no complaints about Nitza, and that Colón never stopped doing her work the way she used to, she always did it. In contrast, Rodríguez stated that most of [Colón's] absences were and are unannounced; that her attendance is totally unpredictable; and that [s]he is absent continuously, most of the time without prior notice.