Aguiar-Carrasquillo v. Agosto-Alicea

Decision Date12 April 2006
Docket NumberNo. 05-1743.,05-1743.
Citation445 F.3d 19
PartiesFernando AGUIAR-CARRASQUILLO, María Reyes-García, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. Hon. Juan AGOSTO-ALICEA, in his personal capacity and in his official capacity as President of the Government Development Bank (GDB); Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico, Defendants, Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Francisco R. González, with whom F.R. González Law Office was on brief, for appellants.

Edwin J. Seda-Fernández, with whom Mariel Y. Haack, Adsuar Muñiz Goyco & Besosa, P.S.C., Rafael Escalera-Rodríguez, Michelle Taveira-Tirado, and Reichard & Escalera were on brief, for appellees.

Before TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge, STAHL, Senior Circuit Judge, and HOWARD, Circuit Judge.

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-Appellants Fernando Aguiar-Carrasquillo ("Aguiar") and María Reyes-García ("Reyes") allege several different causes of action arising from political discrimination against their employers, defendants Government Development Bank ("GDB") and Juan Agosto-Alicea ("Agosto"). Plaintiffs are members of the New Progressive Party ("NPP") while Agosto is a member of the Popular Democratic Party ("PDP") that came to power in Puerto Rico after its 2000 electoral victory.

On July 15, 2003, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. On July 21, 2003, plaintiffs requested a thirty-day extension to file their opposition to defendants' motion for summary judgment because they claimed it was essential for their opposition to depose Alba Caballero ("Caballero").1 The district court granted plaintiffs' request for an extension until August 21, 2003, but warned that "ABSOLUTELY NO FURTHER EXTENSIONS OF TIME SHALL BE GRANTED." (emphasis in the original). Nevertheless, plaintiffs did not timely file their opposition to defendants' summary judgment motion.

Four months later, on November 25, 2003, defendants filed a motion requesting that the court deem unopposed their statements of uncontested material facts and grant summary judgment in their favor. On December 24, 2003, plaintiffs opposed defendants' motion for the admission of their statement of facts as uncontroverted, and requested a thirty-day extension to file their opposition to defendants' summary judgment motion. On March 12, 2004, the court entered its Opinion and Order, accepting defendants' unopposed statement of facts and granting defendants' unopposed motion for summary judgment. On March 23, plaintiffs filed a motion for reconsideration on grounds that defendants had failed to provide certain "essential documents." On March 25, plaintiffs filed their first motion requesting that the court order defendants to produce those documents. Finally, on April 14, 2004, more than one month after the entry of judgment, plaintiffs filed their opposition to summary judgment. On March 23, 2005, the district court denied plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration. Plaintiffs now appeal.

I. Uncontested Facts

Agosto became GDB President on January 2, 2001, at which time he extended all probationary periods then in effect and ordered an investigation — to be conducted by Caballero — of all recent appointments, including those of plaintiffs, to determine whether any violated the applicable law and regulations. Both plaintiffs allege discriminatory adverse employment actions resulting from this investigation.

A. Plaintiff Aguiar

On April 7, 2000, Aguiar was appointed Executive Director of the Tourism Development Fund, a trust position,2 with a salary of $77,200. That salary was increased to $82,227 on July 12, 2000. In August 2000, the GDB Human Resources Office prepared an announcement for the position of Assistant Director of Private Finance. The requirements for the position included:

(a) Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Finance from an accredited university or college; Six years of experience in loan analysis and administration, two of those years in personnel supervision functions; Bilingual (Spanish and English); or in its place;

(b) Master's Degree in Accounting or Finance from an accredited university or college; Five years of experience in loan analysis and administration, two of those years in personnel supervision; Bilingual (Spanish and English).

Jaime López ("López"), Director of Private Finance at GDB, reviewed these requirements before the announcement was published, met with Aguiar to discuss his eligibility for the position, and subsequently eliminated the education prerequisites and the requirements for experience in loan analysis and administration. In their stead, he established a much lower threshold of qualifications for the job — namely, six years of experience in analysis and administration of private sector financing, two of which must have entailed the planning and coordination of financing services including personnel supervision. Despite the fact that GDB had classified the position of Assistant Director of Private Finance as one that categorically required a degree in accounting or finance, the announcement was published with no such requirements. Aguiar does not have a degree in accounting or finance and would not have been eligible for the position if López had not changed the requirements.

Aguiar applied for the position of Assistant Director of Private Finance and was appointed, effective September 7, 2000, subject to the standard six month probationary period. At that time, Aguiar's qualifications for the position included four years and eleven months' experience in analysis and administration of private sector financing, two of which related to planning and coordination of financing services. When he was certified as eligible for the position, one additional year of employment experience — during which time he served as an administrative officer — was counted toward the requirement of six years' experience in the analysis and administration of private sector financing, despite the fact that his duties as an administrative officer did not include those activities.

The position of Assistant Director of Private Finance was a permanent career position, with an annual salary of $58,900. Aguiar continued to occupy the position of Executive Director of the Tourism Development Fund, for which he received a "differential compensation" of $23,100 annually. The sum of his salary and the differential was $82,230, which is the same salary that he had received as Executive Director of the Tourism Development Fund prior to his promotion. According to GDB Personnel Regulations, a differential can only be authorized, with written justification, when "the geographic location, the extraordinary job conditions or the extraordinary difficulties regarding recruitment or retention of personnel in certain positions justify the use of additional incentives to the ordinary salary." There is no evidence on the record of a valid justification for the differential.

On June 6, 2001, Agosto notified Aguiar that serious irregularities had been identified with regard to his appointment as Assistant Director of Private Finance. These included a) the impermissible elimination of the educational prerequisite from the published requirements for the position; b) the fact that Aguiar did not have the six years' required relevant experience and c) the fact that Aguiar simultaneously occupied two positions at GDB. After an administrative hearing during which Aguiar had the opportunity to present evidence, his appointment was declared null and void, and he was reinstated to a previous position — Administrative and Finance Officer at the Tourism Development Fund, effective July 17, 2001.

B. Plaintiff Reyes

Reyes applied for the position of Senior Account Executive at GDB on August 25, 2000. The requirements of the position included "two years of experience in financing, investment, or professional accounting functions," one of which must have entailed credit analysis or the administration of financing accounts or investment portfolios. Reyes's resumé did not initially list any duties related to financial analysis, and she was asked to submit a new certification. Her new certification, listing financial analysis responsibilities, was submitted on September 5, 2000. On that date she was certified as eligible for the position and appointed to the position of Senior Account Executive, effective September 7, 2000, subject to a six-month probationary period.

Reyes was appointed after ten other candidates had previously been certified as eligible, despite the fact that GDB Personnel Regulations stipulate that "[t]he eligibles included in each certification must be the first ten (10) that appear in the register, willing to accept the appointment under the conditions stipulated." Reyes's salary was set at $40,000, more than the minimum salary for the position, despite the fact that GDB Personnel Regulations provide that "every person will receive as salary for their services the minimum rate established for the class to which their position is assigned." Only where there is "difficulty in recruitment, extraordinary qualifications of the candidate, or needs of the service," may an employee be awarded a salary higher than the minimum. The Director of Human Resources stated that Reyes had "vast experience" in the field of financial analysis, despite the fact that her credentials do not appear to support such an assessment, and Reyes claims that she had "extraordinary qualifications" because she was bilingual, organized, met her deadlines, and stayed at a previous post for seven years.

Reyes's probationary period was extended when Agosto took office as GDB President, and Caballero found several irregularities upon review of her appointment. Among them were a) the fact that, in violation of GDB regulations, Reyes was certified as eligible for the position after ten other candidates had been certified; and b) the fact that a higher salary was recommended...

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