Opinion ID: 201249
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Treatment of Vazquez

Text: 56 Vazquez lacked sufficient work to occupy her time from January through August 2001 (less the two months when she was on leave). When Vazquez sent a letter to her immediate supervisor, Martinez, detailing her lack of work projects during this time, Martinez began assigning Vazquez adequate work. Additionally, Vazquez was demoted from Executive Director II to Office Worker/Typist I effective February 1, 2002. A hearing officer found that the reassignment was valid because Vazquez previously had been illegally hired and promoted. 57 Sanchez and Cordova testified that Vazquez met the minimum qualifications for each of the positions to which she had been appointed. However, Sanchez admitted that the municipality generally did not follow the procedural requirements for personnel actions. Plaintiff never offered any clear evidence or testimony that her appointments either met these procedural requirements or were eligible for an exception to any of the requirements. In fact, Vazquez admitted that she was promoted without going through the regular competitive process or serving the normally required probationary period. Furthermore, Delgado's uncontradicted testimony was that there was no material in Vazquez's personnel file to show either that the procedural requirements were followed or that Vazquez's appointments were eligible for an exception to the usual procedural requirements. 58 Taking the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, Vazquez arguably established that she did not need to comply with the normal appointment procedures when she assumed the position of Executive Director II because that position was simply a reclassification of the position of Assistant Director. However, Vazquez's demotion to Office Worker/Typist I was premised on the alleged illegality of her appointment to Secretary III, not on any ineligibility to be reassigned from Assistant Director to Executive Director II.