Opinion ID: 768062
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Arroyo's Discharge

Text: 15 Arroyo's discharge was the result of a dispute at work on January 13, 1997. Vctor Baez, Arroyo's supervisor, assigned Arroyo and Jorge Hernandez to clean and wax a floor in the medical records office. It was a holiday and Baez apparently wanted to get the work done before the offices reopened the next day. Scheduled to work from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Arroyo asked if they could work through their lunch period and leave early. This was often done in practice, although the Hospital claimed it had told its managers to curtail this practice. According to Hernandez and Arroyo, later that morning Baez told them that they should continue to work through their lunch hours and could leave at 1:00. Arroyo then made family plans for shortly after 1:00, and he and Hernandez worked through their lunch hour. Baez, however, testified that all along he had told the two employees that they needed to remain at work until 1:30. 16 According to Arroyo and Hernandez, ten minutes before the two men were to leave, Baez told them to complete the job and remain at work until 1:30. Arroyo asked why, since Baez had given them permission to leave at 1:00 and Arroyo had made an appointment for 1:00. Hernandez added that he had recently been allowed to leave at 1:00 after working through his lunch hour. Baez repeated that the two had to stay and work until 1:30. Arroyo told Baez that they could discuss the matter with the head of the housekeeping department when Arroyo next returned to work. 17 Hernandez and Arroyo left the Hospital together at 1:00, despite Baez's wishes. At the parking lot Hernandez told Arroyo that he had to go back into the Hospital to see someone. Hernandez testified that he did not perform any work upon his return. He also testified that upon his return to the Hospital, he saw the Hospital Comptroller, Jose Marzan, and chatted with him socially. Hernandez also said he saw Baez, who asked where Arroyo was. Hernandez testified that he told Baez that Arroyo had left and that he, Hernandez, had stayed but had not worked. Baez testified that Hernandez was working when Baez saw him in the Hospital after 1:00. Marzan also testified that Hernandez was working when he saw him in the Hospital after 1:00. Marzan, however, could not say exactly what Hernandez was doing. 18 The remaining work was done the same day by an afternoon shift employee, Hector Negron. Negron testified that the work took one and a half to two hours to complete. Negron's testimony contradicted Baez's testimony that the work took fifteen minutes to complete. 19 On his next day of work, January 16, Hernandez was called into a meeting with Baez, Begona Melendez (the Human Resources Director) and Mara Eugenia del Ro (the head of the unit that included housekeeping). Arroyo was not present for the meeting. Melendez read a report, signed by Baez, about the events of January 13. The report said Arroyo had a negative and disrespectful attitude, that Baez had insisted the two men stay in order to get the work finished, which would have taken no more than fifteen minutes, and that Hernandez had remained at the Hospital and worked while Arroyo had left. Hernandez testified that upon hearing the report he denied that he had done any work after 1:00, that either man had violated any Hospital policy, and that Arroyo had been disrespectful. Baez, Melendez, and del Ro, in contrast, testified that Hernandez initially agreed with the report and then immediately changed his mind. At the meeting, the Hospital officials told Hernandez he would be paid for the work he performed between 1:00 and 1:30 and that nothing would happen to him because he had remained at the Hospital while Arroyo had been insubordinate and had left. 20 The Hospital officials called Arroyo in next and read him the same Baez report. Arroyo said the report was not true and explained his version of what had happened. Baez repeated that the job could have been completed in about fifteen minutes; Arroyo disputed this and said it was not manly of Baez to say this. He asked that Hernandez be brought to the meeting to clarify the facts. Melendez said that was not necessary because she had spoken with Hernandez and that he had agreed with the report. Del Ro told Arroyo that he should have stayed until 1:30 to complete the job; Arroyo, upset by the comments that the job could have been completed in so little time, responded, Were you there? Melendez admonished Arroyo to be more respectful. Melendez then fired Arroyo. Melendez testified that Arroyo displayed a hostile and disrespectful attitude at the meeting while Hernandez had not.