Santos Rodríguez v. Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority
Santos Rodríguez v. Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The petition for declaratory judgment before the trial court alleges: That late in December 1960 and January 1961 the public corporation, appellee herein, conducted an investigation into the low consumption in the meters installed in the houses where some of its employees resided, as a result
The most important contentions of appellee’s answer are the special defenses raised in said answer: (1) That the trial court lacks jurisdiction inasmuch as the averments
The trial court concluded that in alleging “that their removals were made in violation of the collective agreement, pursuant to § 69 (f) of the Act creating the Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board . . . plaintiffs, appellants herein, are charging the defendant with an unfair labor practice which may be heard before the Board since it involves questions of public policy, but this is not an action in defense of the public policy affected by such unfair labor practice — in which case the Board would have exclusive jurisdiction — but to assert private rights allegedly arising from the collective agreement [citations]. However, the difficulty confronting plaintiffs in raising before us the illegality of their removals is another one. Prior thereto the Union to which plaintiffs are affiliated resorted, on their behalf, to the Labor Relations Board making an identical contention which was dismissed. (See notice of dismissal of charge of the Labor Relations Board of Puerto Rico, case No. CA-2501 of August 28, 1961, affirmed on September 11, 1961). Review of the adminis
The Chairman of the Labor Relations Board of Puerto Rico refused to file a complaint on the following ground: “Complainant (the Union) has requested of the employer that the suspensions of the employees involved in this case be discussed in the Adjustment Committee pursuant to art. VI (b) of the agreement. The employer has repeatedly stated that the cases of these employees cannot be discussed in the Adjustment Committee. Its contention is based on the fact that the collective agreement provides in art. XVII (3) the procedure to be followed in cases of suspension from employment and salary. It maintains that in negotiating this provision they took into consideration that § 7(a) of the Act creating the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority [No. 19 of April 8, 1942] provides that all appointments, removals, promotions, transfers, discontinuances, reinstatements, suspensions, leaves of absence and changes in grade, compensation or title of the officers and employees of the Authority, shall be made and permitted as provided in rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Governing Board. Article XVII (3) provides for a hearing in all cases of suspension from employment and salary. At this hearing the worker shall be duly represented by the Union. The hearings are held by the Office of Personnel of the employer. The Personnel Director shall designate the persons to try the cases and shall see that the removing party does not appear in the panel of triers. In deciding the cases the panel of triers uses a Manual of Standards and Procedures of Personnel prepared by the Authority. The evidence shows that the cases of suspension from employment and salary have always been heard pursuant to art. XVII (3) of the agreement. No case
All the indicia contained in the evidence having been considered, it is unquestionable that in this case the appellee public corporation combined the disciplinary procedure for cases of suspension from employment and salary established in Art. XXXVII of the collective agreement with the administrative hearing procedure provided in its own regulation pursuant to the power granted by § 7 (a) of the Water Resources Act of May 2, 1941, as amended by Act No. 19 of April 8, 1942.
The administrative hearing was held before three Trial Examiners designated by the Director of the Personnel Division, assisted by counsel, and an officer of that administrative division, counselled by its engineers, presented the evidence on behalf of the Distribution and Sales Division. The employee in question was represented by a delegate of the labor Union, both of whom were assisted by counsel. The Trial Examiner who presided at the hearing advised that: “The purpose of this administrative hearing is to enable the Authority to gather any information which may be necessary to determine whether or not the person charged with a violation of a certain regulation of the Authority is guilty. The Authority is not interested in finding an employee guilty, but it is interested in learning all the details of the case and that the conclusion reached be fair and reasonable.”
In deciding the question raised the Trial Examiner who presided at the hearing stated as follows: “This is not a complaint. It is a suspension which the management does not consider a complaint. However, when there is a suspension, it is another matter. A complaint is one thing and a suspension is another. When there is a suspension, now we come to pages 69 and 70 of the agreement (art. XXXVII, p. 95, of the new collective agreement, on disciplinary procedure) which provides for a hearing. The manner of conducting a hearing is a procedure established by the Authority. Another point which we wish to make clear, in order that it may also appear in the record, is that these disciplinary rules and the manual were not actually discussed
The corresponding hearings having been held, on April 7, 1961, the Union of Workers of the Electric and Irrigation Industry of Puerto Rico filed a charge against the Authority for violations of § 8(1) (f) of the Labor Relations Act of Puerto Rico, consisting in that from and after December 25, 1960 the employer violated and still continues violating art. XVII (8) of the General Provisions of the Collective Agreement in force between the parties from 1958 to 1960, by its failure to serve notice of the charges within three (3) days following the suspension of Juan Rodríguez Colón, Pedro Monserrate Malavé, and other employees. The employer was charged, further, that as of January 23, 1961, it is violating art. VI on Resolution of Claims — subd. (b) of the agreement — by refusing to discuss the suspension of these employees in the Adjustment Committee.
After an examination of the record of the case, the transcript of the hearing and the reports of the Trial Examiners, on July 12, 1961 the Executive Director of the Authority found proved the charges and ordered the definitive removal of appellant from employment and salary. As we have seen, on August 28, 1961, the Chairman of the Labor Relations Board of Puerto Rico dismissed the charge filed by the Union, and on September 11, 1961, the Board affirmed the Chairman’s action.
The procedure for considering an unjustified removal may be an ordinary administrative procedure for removal whenever the Act creating that corporate or body politic so authorizes — § 7(a) of the Water Resources Act —or may be heard by means of a complaint before the Arbitration Committee provided in the collective agreement whenever the agreement so provides — § 8(1) (f) of the Labor
In this case it is contended that since the Water Resources Authority has not established in its regulation a procedure for administrative hearing and further judicial review, such regulation is invalid. The authority to review judicially an order of removal is implied where, as in this case, the Act creating the Water Resources Authority provides a procedure similar to the procedure for removal established for the Office of Personnel of the Government of Puerto Rico: López v. Muñoz, 80 P.R.R. 4, 7-9 (Snyder) (1957); Rivera v. Chancellor of the University, 73 P.R.R. 361, 364-66 (Snyder) (1952); Bernard Schwartz, Una In-
For the reasons stated, the judgment rendered by the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, Caguas Part, on May 31, 1962, will be reversed and the case remanded for a declaration of rights not inconsistent with the terms of this opinion.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.