Opinion ID: 202980
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Assessing the Prima Facie Showing of Political Discrimination

Text: Defendants urge us to accept the magistrate judge's conclusion that the evidence presented by plaintiffs is inadequate to show either Rey's knowledge of their politics or a deliberate decision to remove them based on their NPP status. Defendants further assert that even the plaintiffs' evidence reveals that the jobs they previously held were modified after their departures  demonstrating that the motivation behind the transfers was not impermissible political discrimination, but a permissible streamlining of the department's operations. They specifically invoke the changeover defense, which relies on the prerogative of newly elected officials to make politically neutral changes to improve departmental operations after a careful study of existing personnel and business practices. Members of the outgoing administration's political party inevitably will be affected by such changes. See, e.g., Borges Colón, 438 F.3d at 6 (noting that the effect of a new administration's policy choices may fall most heavily on the party that has lost power); Agosto-de-Feliciano v. Aponte-Roque, 889 F.2d 1209, 1220-21 (1st Cir.1989) (en banc). Although the changeover defense ultimately may prevail, our close review of the record reveals an adequate circumstantial basis for concluding both that Rey was aware of plaintiffs' political allegiance to the NPP and that plaintiffs were replaced with PDP loyalists. Most significantly, the record lacks evidence of a considered appraisal of jobs and responsibilities that could substantiate a changeover defense. On this record  given both its contents and its gaps  we believe a jury reasonably could find political discrimination.
Although plaintiffs have produced no direct evidence that Rey was aware of their affiliation with the NPP, the record contains circumstantial evidence that could support such a finding. Pillich testified that she believed all of the trust positions on the list that she compiled for Rey, including those held by plaintiffs, were occupied by individuals appointed by the prior administration because the last administration was there for eight years. This statement supports the inference that Pillich assumed the individuals in those positions probably were affiliated with the former NPP administration. This is particularly so given that Pillich further indicated that political affiliation with the newly elected PDP administration may be one of the factors necessary for those trust positions to ensure that the individuals in the jobs could collaborate . . . in th[e] educational project of the new administration. [11] Although Pillich emphasized that political affiliation was not a determining factor, her testimony at least suggests that plaintiffs were identified as NPP members and were subject to removal for that reason. [12] It is a small inferential step from Pillich's testimony to Rey's own knowledge. That is, we think it fair to infer that Rey, a PDP political appointee who asked Pillich to generate the list of trust employees as soon as he took over the Department, shared Pillich's assumptions regarding the affiliations of all trust-classified incumbents. [13] Taken in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, Pillich's deposition testimony also inferentially supports plaintiffs' allegation that all of the NPP trust employees identified on the list that she compiled were replaced by PDP members who could be counted on to collaborate in the new administration's educational project. Pillich insisted that loyal party members were needed to support plaintiffs' positions. Interestingly, defendants offered no evidence to rebut such an implication, despite the fact that such evidence would probably be obtainable from the replacements identified by the plaintiffs. Unlike cases in which we have noted the plaintiffs' failure to provide the names of their replacements, see, e.g., Vázquez-Valentín, 385 F.3d at 38; Figueroa-Serrano v. Ramos-Alverio, 221 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir.2000), the plaintiffs here have done so.
In seeking to justify plaintiffs' removals as part of a natural transition from one administration to the next  the changeover defense  defendants attempt to downplay the significance of the plaintiffs' political affiliation and that of their successors. This effort falters on the record before us. Plaintiffs were reassigned to their lower level career positions, without explanation, about a week after Rey assumed the Secretary's role. Although Rey stated in his deposition that the positions in the organization were evaluated based on need, the record contains no evidence  other than Rey's bald assertion that we re-arranged the whole administration  of a considered plan to restructure the Department of Education. Both Rey and Pillich acknowledged that, at the time the changes were made, they knew neither what plaintiffs' duties were nor how well they had performed their jobs. [14] See Agosto-de-Feliciano, 889 F.2d at 1221-22 (In evaluating the changeover defense, the factfinder should take into account, inter alia, whether the actions occurred precipitately or after some opportunity for appraisal, whether they seem connected with previously announced goals, and whether they flowed from an organizational or procedural study. (footnote omitted)). The quick terminations, with no attention to either job functions or performances, are strongly suggestive of pure political motivation. See id. at 1222 n. 12 ([C]hanges made within days of a new administration's ascent to power ordinarily would be more likely to reflect an improper political housecleaning than would changes made months later, after the new officials have had a chance to evaluate how to reorganize their departments to best meet their policy goals.). Indeed, the record permits an inference that the defendants mistakenly believed they could demote all NPP trust employees without regard to their policymaking functions. Moreover, the evidence was equivocal as to whether the nature of plaintiffs' positions changed after they were removed, permitting a jury to conclude on this record that the personnel actions were made for political reasons rather than to improve efficiency. There was some evidence of task realignment: Montfort's former secretary testified in her deposition that the office functioned differently [b]ecause now it's the director who makes the decisions . . . not like it was done before. In addition, Flores stated that the Institute that she led doesn't operate as before. However, Flores also observed that her old work team is carrying out the same functions that she performed. Her secretary agreed, testifying that Flores's successor does not do things the same way as Flores, but that [s]he has the same functions. [15] The absence of evidence of a comprehensive or carefully studied effort at reform distinguishes this case from a number of others in which we have rejected claims of political discrimination following a change in administration. For example, in Aguiar-Carrasquillo, the defendant had directed an investigator to conduct an audit of all recent employment actions to evaluate their compliance with department regulations. We concluded there that it did not matter that NPP members were heavily affected: [I]f uniformly applied personnel practices, predicated on legitimate reasons, result in terminations, those terminations are not unconstitutional because those affiliated with one political party are disproportionately impacted. It is in the nature of a change in administration that job actions by the new party will have a disparate impact on members of the outgoing party. 445 F.3d at 26 (quoting Sánchez-López v. Fuentes-Pujols, 375 F.3d 121, 140 (1st Cir. 2004) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Similarly, in Vázquez-Valentín, the challenged reassignments occurred following defendants' review of the personnel files of all 1,300 or so municipal employees. 385 F.3d at 26; see also Vélez-Rivera v. Agosto-Alicea, 437 F.3d 145, 149 (1st Cir.2006) (affirming summary judgment for defendants where an independent contractor conducted an audit to assess the legality of all personnel transactions during a particular period); González-de-Blasini, 377 F.3d at 84 (affirming summary judgment for defendants where their office conducted an audit of its Human Resources Department following the change in administration).
In sum, the admissible evidence and the plausible inferences that a jury could draw from it suffice to meet appellants' burden to show a genuine factual dispute as to whether Rey knew of their NPP affiliation and replaced them with his political allies based solely on that association. The deposition testimony of Rey and Pillich, when viewed in context, renders this case more circumstantial than speculative. See, e.g., Peguero-Moronta, 464 F.3d at 46 ([W]here `the plaintiffs were all members of the adverse party . . . their superiors knew this, and . . . their duties were given to active supporters of the party in power,' we found there was ample evidence for the plaintiffs' case to avoid summary judgment. (quoting Acosta-Orozco v. Rodriguez-de-Rivera, 132 F.3d 97, 101 (1st Cir.1997))); González-de-Blasini, 377 F.3d at 86 (recognizing that a `prima facie case for political discrimination may be built on circumstantial evidence' so long as plaintiffs have generated `the specific facts necessary to take the asserted claim out of the realm of speculative, general allegations' (quoting Kauffman v. P.R. Tel. Co., 841 F.2d 1169, 1173 (1st Cir.1988))). The evidence here, though thin, point[s] in different directions; that is, it tend[s] to support conflicting inferences. Summary judgment cannot be predicated on so vacillatory a record. Mandel, 456 F.3d at 207; see also In re Varrasso, 37 F.3d 760, 764 (1st Cir.1994) (holding that a court faced with competing plausible inferences may not make its choice under the banner of summary judgment). The judgment of the district court is therefore vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We take no view of the propriety of summary judgment on a more fully developed record. Costs are taxed in favor of the appellants. So ordered.