Opinion ID: 200115
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Allegedly False Communication by Ms. Ferre to Mr. Mercado

Text: 27 Additionally, Gonzalez stresses that, after June 12, Ms. Ferre falsely informed Mr. Mercado that Gonzalez had accepted the retirement offer, thereby presumably causing the $6,000 check to issue and corroborating Gonzalez' acceptance, all in an elaborate effort to force Gonzalez to leave her employment. Even viewed in the light most favorable to Gonzalez, see Conto, 265 F.3d at 80, n. 1, any such inference would be highly speculative at the very least. We explain. 28 First, although at summary judgment we must credit the assertion attributed to Gonzalez on June 12 — that she never agreed to retire, see Santiago-Ramos, 217 F.3d at 55 — it does not follow that Ms. Ferre spoke untruthfully. Rather, Ms. Ferre simply may have misinterpreted Gonzalez' stated intentions. But more importantly, we are unable to conceive a plausible motive for Ms. Ferre to misrepresent Gonzalez' intentions. Had Gonzalez not desired or agreed — on June 12 — to retire, surely her mere acceptance of the $6,000 loan itself would not have pressured her into executing the retirement agreement, particularly in light of (i) Mr. Mercado's ready acceptance of Gonzalez' own characterization of the June 12 transaction as a loan transaction, and (ii) Mr. Mercado's willingness to accommodate her suggestion that a repayment agreement immediately be reduced to writing. Finally, Gonzalez' characterization of the $6,000 loan, as a mere salary advance, severely strains credulity, especially since she attested that she had been surprised by the large amount of the check and wondered how she would repay it. Accordingly, the record is devoid of creditable evidence that Ms. Ferre, in issuing the $6,000 check to Gonzalez, harbored any illicit motive whatever, let alone an age-based animus.