Marrero-Rivera v. Dept. of Justice

• Decision Date: 30 April 1993
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 92-2268.
• Citation: 821 F. Supp. 65
• Parties: Martha MARRERO RIVERA, Plaintiff, v. The DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OF the COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO; Pedro Geronimo Goyco Amador; Iris Dolores Melendez Vega; Zenaida Acosta Ronda, and Jose Angel Santiago Martinez, Individually and in Their Official Capacities, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

821 F. Supp. 65

Martha MARRERO RIVERA, Plaintiff, v. The DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OF the COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO; Pedro Geronimo Goyco Amador; Iris Dolores Melendez Vega; Zenaida Acosta Ronda, and Jose Angel Santiago Martinez, Individually and in Their Official Capacities, Defendants.

Civ. No. 92-2268.

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

April 30, 1993.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Francisco M. Dolz-Sánchez, Bayamón, P.R., for plaintiff.

Kenneth Colón-Alicea, Director, Federal Litigation Div. Dept. of Justice, Com. of Puerto Rico, José G. Fagot-Díaz, Ramirez & Ramirez, San Juan, P.R., for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

FUSTE, District Judge.

This case brings with it the reappearance of issues resolved by this court in an earlier version of the same case. Marrero-Rivera v. Dept. of Justice, 800 F.Supp. 1024 (D.P.R. 1992) ("Marrero-Rivera I"). In Marrero-Rivera I, we dismissed plaintiff's Title VII claims without prejudice for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e—2000e-17. We also dismissed plaintiff's claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 with prejudice as preempted by the recently amended version of Title VII. See Civil Rights Act of 1991, P.L. No. 102-166, 105 Stat. 1071 (1992). No appeal was taken and that determination is now final.

Now, plaintiff has filed an almost identical complaint. Aside from adding two defendants, Zenaida Acosta-Ronda and José Angel Santiago-Martínez, plaintiff is alleging some of the same causes of action against defendants the Department of Justice, Goyco-Amador, and Meléndez-Vega that were previously addressed in Marrero-Rivera I. Defendants Goyco-Amador, Meléndez-Vega, and Santiago-Martínez move to dismiss the section 1983 claims because plaintiff is collaterally estopped from raising the claims. As to the Title VII claims, they again argue that plaintiff has failed to exhaust administrative remedies. Defendant Acosta-Ronda moves to dismiss on a multitude of grounds: That she is not a Title VII employer; that her actions do not constitute a violation of Title VII; that section 1983 is preempted by Title VII, and that plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies. All movants are requesting Rule 11 sanctions.

I. Facts

We refer the reader to our earlier opinion for the specific details of this case. Marrero-Rivera I, 800 F.Supp. 1024 (D.P.R.1992). The general background of the case is that plaintiff alleges Meléndez-Vega subjected her to unwanted sexual advances in the Spring of 1991. After the plaintiff rejected these advances, she claims that Meléndez-Vega complained, allegedly telling others that plaintiff was not qualified to perform her job. Plaintiff further alleges that Goyco-Amador, Meléndez-Vega's supervisor, knew of plaintiff's complaints of sexual harassment and ignored them. On July 19, 1991, plaintiff met with Goyco-Amador, at which meeting he insisted that plaintiff transfer, citing complaints by Meléndez-Vega about plaintiff's behavior. After she requested a transfer at Goyco-Amador's insistence, plaintiff was moved to a new position. As a result of this transfer, plaintiff alleges that her job situation deteriorated. She was unable to take advantage of the reclassification for which she had applied, because she was no longer in her position with Meléndez-Vega when it was granted. Her new position was less secure, since it required that she take an exam and endure a probationary period. Plaintiff alleges that this transfer constituted a demotion.

The facts which are new to the present case are those involving Acosta-Ronda and Santiago-Martínez. Acosta-Ronda was apparently assigned as special prosecutor by the Secretary of Justice to investigate plaintiff's allegations of sexual harassment against defendant Meléndez-Vega. Plaintiff alleges that Acosta-Ronda coerced witnesses and distorted evidence in an effort to support the defendants' theory of the events. José Angel Santiago-Martínez is the chief deputy of the San Juan District Attorney's Office. Plaintiff alleges that he was the first high-ranking officer of the Department of Justice to learn that defendant Meléndez-Vega was harassing the plaintiff. She also claims that Santiago-Martínez lied in a statement taken by Acosta-Ronda. Their actions led to the administrative exoneration of defendant Meléndez-Vega in the internal department investigation of Meléndez-Vega's actions. The details of their actions, with dates and more specific activities, are not included in the complaint.

II. Discussion

A. Title VII

All of the defendants find fault with plaintiff's Title VII claims. The defendant Goyco-Amador moves to dismiss arguing that plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies. Defendant Meléndez-Vega moves to dismiss because the plaintiff failed to timely file administrative claims. Defendant Santiago-Martínez moves to dismiss because he was not included in the original charge mentioned in the Attorney General's right-to-sue letter. Defendant Acosta-Ronda moves to dismiss for a number of reasons: she is not a Title VII employer, her actions do not constitute a violation of Title VII, and plaintiff has failed to exhaust administrative remedies.

1. Goyco-Amador

Plaintiff has submitted a right-to-sue letter from an Assistant Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice. This letter was sent in response to a request by plaintiff for a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC. The EEOC transmitted this request for notice of right to sue to the Department of Justice because the suit involved a governmental agency. "Where the respondent is a government, governmental agency, or political subdivision, the Attorney General will issue the notice of right to sue ... where a charging party has requested a notice of right to sue." 29 C.F.R. § 1601.28(d). From the right-to-sue letter, which refers specifically to the EEOC charge, we assume the letter relies on EEOC approval of the right to sue.

A right-to-sue letter signifies that the agency has chosen not to pursue legal action. Although the regulations provide two separate procedures for getting approval to sue, one for government defendants and one for non-government defendants, this does not mean that the requirement of obtaining the right to sue for both types of defendants cannot be fulfilled with one right-to-sue letter. We interpret the regulations as follows: once the EEOC has determined that it will issue a right-to-sue letter for the non-government defendants, it passes the request on to the Department of Justice for its decision as to the government defendants. According to this interpretation, the letter from the Department of Justice implies the right to sue for the non-government defendants. Indeed, the letter from the Assistant Attorney General states that "you are hereby notified that you have the right to institute a civil action under Title VII ... against the respondents named in your charge." The charge names the Department of Justice, Goyco-Amador, and Meléndez-Vega. We find that plaintiff has fulfilled the requirements for filing suit in federal court and exhausted administrative remedies.

2. Meléndez-Vega

Defendant Meléndez-Vega argues that, with regard to her, the plaintiff did not timely file her charge with the "EEOC or ... appropriate deferral agency." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1). A plaintiff has 180 days from the date of the alleged unlawful practice to file a charge with the EEOC if there is no state deferral agency in the jurisdiction. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e) (1992); 29 C.F.R. § 1601.13(a) (1992). Where there is a state deferral agency in the jurisdiction, however, the charge need only be filed with the EEOC within three-hundred days of the alleged unlawful practice. Id. In this case, defendant is arguing that the Anti-Discrimination Unit ("ADU") of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Department of Labor is not a state deferral or FEP agency.¹

"The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Department of Labor has been designated as a FEP agency for all charges except ... charges alleging violations of Title VII by agencies or instrumentalities of the Government of Puerto Rico.... For these types of charges it shall be deemed a `Notice Agency.'" 29 C.F.R. § 1601.74 n. 5. The distinction between a notice agency and a deferral agency is significant because the EEOC does not "defer to notice agencies, although it does notify the agency of the filing of charges." Arthur Larson, Employment Discrimination § 48.12(a)(2) at 9A-24 (1992); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1601.71(b). This means that the submission of the charge to local scrutiny only adds 120 days to the existent 180-day statute of limitations for filing with the EEOC if the local agency is a state deferral agency. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e). A charge in a jurisdiction where the state or local agency is designated as a notice agency does not benefit from the extended statute of limitations period. 29 C.F.R. § 1601.13(1).² In this case, which involves both government and non-government defendants, there were two filing deadlines: 180 days for suit against the Department of Justice and 300 days for suit against the individual defendants.

The discriminatory act begins the ticking of the filing clock. "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment." 29 C.F.R. § 1604.11(a). This definition of a discriminatory act is accepted by the courts as guidance. Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 65, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2405, 91 L.Ed.2d...