Opinion ID: 201249
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Vazquez

Text: 42 Vazquez was on the stand for three days. In addition to detailing her work history and the responsibilities of her employment with the municipality, Vazquez testified that her academic preparation and experiences qualified her for all of the municipal positions that she had held. Vazquez also testified that her immediate supervisor, Martinez, both made politically discriminatory remarks, including stating that [w]ell, hopefully they will kill all the NPPers and failed to give her any work from January to August of 2001. On August 24, 2001, Vazquez sent a letter and an accompanying table to Martinez detailing her work assignments since January 15, 2001 (excluding one month of vacation and one month of sick leave over the seven-month period). The letter informed Martinez that of the remaining five months of that period, Vazquez performed tasks on forty-two of the 106 work days. On cross-examination, Vazquez admitted that she never informed Delgado or Santiago of her lack of work, saying that it is not the mechanism, and that would be gossip. She further admitted that after Martinez received her letter of August 24, Vazquez was given sufficient work to occupy her work days. 43 Vazquez testified about the meeting on May 22 when between fifteen and eighteen employees were given their reassignment letters. She said that all of the employees at the meeting were members of the NPP who held positions of hierarchy in the previous administration. According to Vazquez, the Mayor began the meeting indicating that he was the person in power, that the Popular Democratic Party had won. That they had to adopt actions with employees, that they had to clean house and that they were going to deliver letters to us in which there would be changes in our salaries or our permanence; that whomever wished to go to JASAP had 30 days to do so, that whomever wished to go through attorneys, well, they then had to bear the consequences of their actions and that we would see each other in Court. 12 Vazquez continued recounting the events of the meeting, noting that Delgado began indicating that she was seconding what the Mayor had stated and she explained the appeals process. 44 Vazquez also recounted the details of what appears to be the only other time she met Santiago. When Santiago was campaigning and seeking votes, he visited the community where Vazquez lived. According to Vazquez, [h]e came up the stairs. At that point he introduced himself as a candidate for the Popular Democratic Party and at that point I told him that I belonged to the New Progressive Party, that I campaigned for the NPP from 1984. That I was a militant and that I had held assorted positions with the administration of Mayor Victor Soto and as all candidates he told me that he was counting on my vote. Plaintiff's counsel then asked Vazquez whether Santiago was able to recognize you that you were a member of the New Progressive Party at the May 22 meeting. Vazquez responded, He shook hands with me and greeted me. 45 Vazquez also testified about her activity on behalf of the NPP. She had been an electoral college officer since the age of eighteen and president of the committee for her local ward in Toa Baja. Vazquez participated in mobilization, fundraising, organizing, and all kinds of activities related to politics and the NPP.