Opinion ID: 809864
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Acevedo's History at Ex-Lax

Text: Acevedo was born in 1951 and is a trained mechanical engineer. For twenty years, from 1975 to 1995, Acevedo worked in various posts as an engineer in the manufacturing, government, and pharmaceutical sectors, a trajectory that included the assumption of supervisory roles and exemplary performance evaluations. In 1996, the General Manager of Ex-Lax -- a pharmaceutical company -2- that manufactures over-the-counter products, including laxatives -- approached Acevedo and offered him the position of Maintenance and Engineering Manager at the company's site located in Humacao, Puerto Rico. Acevedo accepted the position and held it for the next eleven years, until he was terminated in 2007. At the time of his termination, Acevedo was 56 years old. Acevedo's main responsibility as the Maintenance and Engineering Manager at Ex-Lax consisted of keeping the plant's facilities in optimum condition, including facilities associated with the company's production machinery, treatment plant, landscaping, and building services. Acevedo's department also provided engineering support to other departments in the company, supervised major contract works, and oversaw the provision of services such as pest control, cleaning, and sanitation by outside contractors. In all, the job required that Acevedo supervise approximately twelve employees, including a maintenance technician, several mechanics, a stock room clerk, a groundskeeper, a packaging engineer, and a facilities project engineer. For most of his career at Ex-Lax, Acevedo received positive performance reviews that fluctuated between overall ratings of fully met expectations and exceeding expectations.1 1 Ex-Lax's performance reviews contained both objective and subjective evaluations, respectively titled the Objectives and Values and Behaviors sections. For each performance review, the employee's execution in various areas would be rated under both sections. This entailed rating the accomplishment of specific -3- From 2000 to 2006, Acevedo was awarded performance2 bonuses of over $10,000.00 in each of those years, except for 2004, when his bonus totaled only $6,244.00. In 2007, the year of his termination, both Acevedo's immediate supervisor at the time, Carlos Ceinos (Ceinos), and Ceinos's supervisor, Iván Martí (Martí), approved a bonus of $13,166.00 for Acevedo's performance in 2006.