Vazquez v. City of Hialeah Gardens

Full title: RICARDO ALFREDO VAZQUEZ, Appellant, v. CITY OF HIALEAH GARDENS, Appellee

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District

Date published: Mar 31, 2004

874 So. 2d 626 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2004)

Opinion

Case No. 3D02-2117.

Opinion filed March 31, 2004. Rehearing Denied June 9, 2004.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Mercedes A. Bach, Judge, Lower Tribunal No. 99-15782.

Arthur Joel Berger, Miami, for appellant.

Carlton Fields, and Sylvia H. Walbolt, St. Petersburg, James R. Wiley, and Cristina Alonso, Miami, for appellee.

Before COPE, LEVY, and RAMIREZ, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Affirmed. See Webb v. Florida Health Care Mgmt. Corp., 804 So.2d 422, 424 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001) (explaining that "[i]n order to prevail on a constructive discharge claim, an employee must show, under an objective standard, that the employer made working conditions so difficult that a reasonable person would feel compelled to resign.").

LEVY and RAMIREZ, JJ., concur.

COPE, J. (concurring).

For summary judgment purposes I accept the proposition that the changes in the plaintiff-appellant's hours and working conditions, and other limitations imposed by the then-mayor, made working conditions so difficult that a reasonable person would resign. The plaintiff's testimony, however, was that the then-mayor wanted to force the plaintiff out of his position so she could give it to her then-boyfriend. This negates the claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that these actions were undertaken on account of discrimination on the basis of national origin.