Sánchez-Medina v. Unicco Service Co.

265 F.R.D. 29, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10851, 2010 WL 445091
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 8, 2010
DocketCivil No. 07-1880 (DRD)
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 265 F.R.D. 29 (Sánchez-Medina v. Unicco Service Co.) 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
Sánchez-Medina v. Unicco Service Co., 265 F.R.D. 29, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10851, 2010 WL 445091 (prd 2010).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JUSTO ARENAS, United States Chief Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the court on motion for reconsideration filed by the co-defendant, UNICCO Service Company, on December 10, 2009. (Docket No. 69.) Plaintiffs filed a motion in opposition on January 19, 2010. (Docket No. 80.) For the reasons set forth below, the co-defendant’s motion is hereby DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs’ causes of action were brought under the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (“ADEA”), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and under various Puerto Rico statutes, seeking redress from the defendants, UNICCO Service Company (“UNICCO”), Unilever de Puerto Rico, Inc., (“Unilever”), William Oca-sio, and Juan C. Rodriguez, for conduct in the workplace constituting of sexual harassment, employment discrimination by reason of age, sex and gender, retaliation for engaging in a protected activity, for slandering Agapito Sánchez-Medina (“Mr. Sánchez”) and torts. (Docket No. 16, at 1, ¶ 1.)

On May 6, 2009 “Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Set of Interrogatories” was sent to the co-defendant. (Docket No. 69-3.) On July 21, 2009, the co-defendant received notice of “Plaintiffs’ First Request to Admit Facts.” (Docket No. 69-4.) On August 4, 2009, the co-defendant notified its “Answer to Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Set of Interrogatories.” (Docket No. 69-5.) On August 6, 2009, plaintiffs made several objections to the co-defendant’s “Answer to Plaintiffs Supplemental Set of Interrogatories.” (Docket No. 69-6.) According to plaintiffs some of the interrogatories that were answered were unresponsive [31]*31because the co-defendant did not produce the information requested in them. (Id.) On August 19, 2009, the co-defendant responded to the objections made by plaintiffs. (Docket No. 69-8.) On August 21, 2009, the co-defendant notified its “Answer to Plaintiffs’ First Request to Admit Facts.” (Docket No. 69-9.) On September 1, 2009, plaintiffs made an additional objection to the co-defendant’s “Answer to Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Set of Interrogatories.” (Docket No. 69-10.) On September 3, 2009, the co-defendant responded to plaintiffs’ objection. (Docket No. 69-11.)

On October 19, 2009, after failing to reach an agreement over the discovery dispute plaintiffs and the co-defendant jointly reached the law clerk assigned to this case. (Docket No. 45, at 2 & Docket No. 69, at 4, ¶ 2.) The parties were directed to submit position letters on the matter. The parties submitted their letters.

In their position letter plaintiffs claimed that the-co-defendant failed to:

(1) Identify the managerial and supervisory positions that were available at Puerto Rico, before and after plaintiffs termination, and the name, age, and seniority of the persons occupying the same.
(2) Provide a list with the names, position, age, and seniority of UNICCO’s employees at Puerto Rico, before and after plaintiffs termination.
(3) Provide a list with the names, age, seniority and position of its employees that worked at UNILEVER, and were reassigned to another facility as an alternative to their termination, after plaintiffs termination.
(4) Provide a list with the name, age, position and seniority of defendant’s employees occupying a supervisory or managerial position, at UNICCO’s operations in the United States.

(Docket No. 66, at 3.)

Plaintiffs argued that the information requested was relevant because UNICCO had a practice and policy for relocating employees that were going to be affected due to termination of a contract and/or due to a reduction in force, to any other positions occupied by an employee with lesser seniority. (Id. at 4, ¶ 1.) According to plaintiffs, after being terminated from his employment Mr. Sánchez informed UNICCO that he was willing to accept any other position at any other facility in Puerto Rico or in the United States but was informed that no positions were available for him. (Id.) Despite of this plaintiffs claimed that UNICCO made various relocation offers to other younger employees who had less experience and seniority. Plaintiffs also claimed that Radamés Rivera (“Mr. Rivera”) received an e-mail from a human resources representative of UNICCO asking him for resumes from UN-ICCO employees. (Id.)

The co-defendant in turn argued that on October 1, 2009, it communicated to plaintiffs that it did not understand the relevance of the request for information related to supervisory positions UNICCO may have had outside of Puerto Rico, since UNICCO did not have a transfer policy for employees that are laid off as a result of the contractual relationship between UNICCO and its clients. (Id. at 5, ¶ 1.) Plaintiffs were also told by the co-defendant that Act 80 does not provide bumping rights for employees that cease in a position as a result of cessation of operations. (Id. at 9, ¶ 1.) As for the e-mail that allegedly was sent to Mr. -Rivera, the co-defendant claimed that despite its numerous requests it was never produced by plaintiffs. (Id. at 5, ¶1.)

After analyzing the arguments made by the parties I issued an “Opinion and Order” on November 30, 2009, whereby the co-defendant was directed to:

(1) Identify the managerial and supervisory positions that were available at Puerto Rico, before and after plaintiffs termination, and the name, age, and seniority of the persons occupying the same before and after plaintiffs termination.
(2) Provide a list with the names, age, seniority, and position of its employees that worked at Unilever, and were reassigned to another facility as an alternative to their termination, after plaintiffs termination.
[32]*32(3) Provide a list with the name, age, position and seniority of defendant’s employees occupying a supervisory or managerial position, at UNICCO’s operations in the United States.

(Docket No. 66, at 11-12.)

In addition, I ordered plaintiffs to produce any e-mail or communication, in their possession, from UNICCO’s HR representatives which might make reference to available positions in other UNICCO accounts in the United States. (Id. at 12.)

On December 10, 2009, the co-defendant filed a “Motion for Reconsideration.” (Docket No. 69.) Therein, the co-defendant requests the court to reconsider the “Opinion and Order” because: (1) the information sought by plaintiffs and ordered by the court to be produced has already been provided; (2) the discovery ordered by the court is broader than the discovery requested by plaintiffs; (3) plaintiffs have alleged in their “Complaint” or “Amended Complaint” neither a pattern and/or practice of discrimination on the part of UNICCO nor a failure to rehire or relocate. (Id. at 6-7, ¶ 3.)

On January 13, 2010, plaintiffs filed a “Motion in Compliance with Opinion and Order.” (Docket No. 78.) Plaintiffs state that the documents they were ordered to be produced were sent to the co-defendant. (Id. at 1, ¶ 1.) On January 14, 2010, the co-defendant filed a response in “Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion in Compliance with Opinion and Order.” (Docket No.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
265 F.R.D. 29, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10851, 2010 WL 445091, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanchez-medina-v-unicco-service-co-prd-2010.