De Los Santos Rojas v. Hospital Español De Auxilio Mutuo de Puerto Rico, Inc.

85 F. Supp. 3d 615, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16090, 98 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,254, 126 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 148, 2015 WL 522991
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 10, 2015
DocketCivil No. 3:13-cv-01577 (JAF)
StatusPublished

This text of 85 F. Supp. 3d 615 (De Los Santos Rojas v. Hospital Español De Auxilio Mutuo de Puerto Rico, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De Los Santos Rojas v. Hospital Español De Auxilio Mutuo de Puerto Rico, Inc., 85 F. Supp. 3d 615, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16090, 98 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,254, 126 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 148, 2015 WL 522991 (prd 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JOSÉ ANTONIO FUSTÉ, District Judge.

I.

Introduction

This matter is before the court on Defendant Hospital Español Auxilio Mutuo de Puerto Rico, Inc.’s and Defendant Ms. María Gradín’s motion for summary judgment, filed August 15, 2014. (Docket No. 17.) Plaintiff opposed the motion on October 4, 2014, (Docket No. 26.), and Defendants replied in support of their motion on November 10, 2014 (Docket No. 46). The parties submitted certified translations of their exhibits.1 (See attachments at Docket Nos. 17,19, 40, and 46.)

Upon reviewing the parties’ briefs, the evidence contained in the record, and rele[618]*618vant case law, the court finds Defendants’ motion not well-taken. For the following reasons, Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is, hereby, DENIED.

II.

Summary Judgment Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 states, in pertinent part, that a court may grant summary judgment only if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); See also Santiago-Ramos v. Centennial P.R. Wireless Corp., 217 F.3d 46, 52 (1st Cir.2000). The court “must view the entire record in the light most hospitable to the party opposing summary judgment, indulging in all reasonable inferences in that party’s favor.” Griggs-Ryan v. Smith, 904 F.2d 112, 115 (1st Cir.1990). The court may safely ignore “conclusory allegations, improbable inferences, and unsupported speculation.” Medina-Muñoz v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 896 F.2d 5, 8 (1st Cir.1990).

III.

Facts

Plaintiff Sergia De Los Santos Rojas (hereinafter, “Plaintiff’) worked for Defendant Hospital Auxilio Mutuo (“Hospital”) from February 11, 2011, through September 5, 2012. During Plaintiffs employment at the Hospital, she worked as a Registered Nurse on the seventh floor and worked under Defendant Ms. Maria Gra-din (“Gradin”). Plaintiff alleges that while employed at the Hospital, several coworkers discriminated against her and harassed her for being from the Dominican Republic. On various occasions, Plaintiff reported the harassment to her supervisor, Gradin. On August 4, 2011, the Hospital presented Plaintiff with a warning related to her unexcused absences and tardiness. Plaintiff resigned her position on August 12, 2011, but, after speaking with Gradin, she revoked her resignation. In February of 2012, Plaintiff requested a transfer out of the seventh floor to the Utilization Department as Case Manager. Plaintiff interviewed for the position, but was not selected. On March 6, 2012, Plaintiff provided a written statement to Defendants, through Gradin, describing harassing and discriminatory treatment by her coworkers. Gradin immediately interviewed each of the coworkers named in Plaintiffs letter. The Hospital conducted a second investigation independent of Gra-din’s. In July of 2012, at Plaintiffs request, the Hospital transferred her from the seventh floor Surgery to the fifth floor. According to Plaintiff, the transfer to the [619]*619fifth floor did not stop the harassment since she still clocked in and out and changed in the seventh-floor locker rooms. In September of 2012, Plaintiff resigned.

On July 24, 2013, Plaintiff filed suit against the Hospital and Gradin alleging (1) national origin discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq., and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 1981a, Law No. 100, of June 30, 1959, as amended, 29 L.P.R.A. § 146,' and (2) intentional and/or negligent infliction of emotional harm. Plaintiff claims that Defendants subjected her to a hostile work environment and that the work environment was so severe and abusive that she had no other option but to resign.

IV.

Hostile Work Environment

Plaintiff claims she suffered national origin discrimination by being required to work in a hostile work environment. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides, in relevant part, that “[i]t shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer ... to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(l). The Supreme Court has stated that “[t]he phrase ‘terms, conditions, or privileges of employment’ evinces a congressional intent to strike at the entire spectrum of disparate treatment of men and women in employment, which includes requiring people to work in a diseriminatorily hostile or abusive environment.” Harris v. Forklift Sys., 510 U.S. 17, 21, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993) (internal quotation and citation omitted).

To establish a prima-facie case for a hostile work environment claim, plaintiff must prove that “(1) she is a member of a protected class; (2) she was subjected to unwelcome harassment; (3) the harassment was based upon [national origin]; (4) the harassment was sufficiently severe or pervasive that it altered the conditions of her employment and created an abusive working environment; (5) the offending conduct was both objectively and subjectively offensive; and (6) some basis for employer liability has been established.” Aponte-Rivera v. DHL Solutions (USA), Inc., 650 F.3d 803, 808 (1st Cir.2011) (citing Douglas v. J.C. Penney Co., Inc., 474 F.3d 10, 15 (1st Cir.2007)). “When the workplace is permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment, Title VII is violated.” Id. (quoting Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 21, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993)). The conduct must be “objectively and subjectively offensive, one that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive, and one that the victim in fact did perceive to be so.” Noviello v. City of Boston, 398 F.3d 76, 92 (1st Cir.2005) (citing Faragher v.

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85 F. Supp. 3d 615, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16090, 98 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,254, 126 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 148, 2015 WL 522991, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-los-santos-rojas-v-hospital-espanol-de-auxilio-mutuo-de-puerto-rico-prd-2015.