Housing Authority suit dismissed

By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@sbnewspaper.com

A civil lawsuit filed in Federal court alleging gender discrimination, retaliation, and breach of contract against the San Benito Housing Authority (SBHA) by its former director was dismissed by the Southern District Court of Texas in May of this year.

The civil lawsuit was filed in October 2022 by the SBHA’s former director, Yvette Nieto against several parties including the San Benito Housing Authority, the San Benito Housing Development Corporation and Community Housing Services Corporation, the City of San Benito, San Benito Mayor Ricardo “Rick” Guerra, his brother Johnny Guerra, and then SBHA Board Chairman, Ben Cortez.

According to the order of dismissal, Nieto claimed officials had discriminated against her based on gender when she was let go from her position as SBHA Director in September 2021. However, the defendants provided a list of grievances regarding Nieto’s “job performance and professionalism,” and claimed she used her position to influence Mayor Guerra about SBHA appointments and removals. They also claimed she repeatedly ignored instructions to complete projects.

According to court records, Nieto rebutted, claiming that supply-chain issues and the COVID-19 pandemic caused these deficiencies and that she had valid reasons for not following the Board’s instruction. She went on to list other justifications for her job performance and added that she disagreed with the Board on the execution of her responsibilities.

Using the McDonnel Douglas burden-shifting framework, the court found that the Board’s disapproval of Nieto’s decisions is “a non-discriminatory reason for termination.” The order of dismissal states “Plaintiff disputes the quality of her job performance, but does not show that the Board did not believe her performance was poor,” and quotes Quevedo V. Lantower Luxury Living: “Even an incorrect belief that an employee’s job performance is inadequate constitutes a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason.”

Nieto claimed that there was an incident in which SBHA Board Chairman Cortez shouted at her because she refused to provide him with the personal information of Chairwoman Rosanna Aguilera in her lawsuit.

Shortly after this incident, court records show, was when she was fired and replaced by a man, who she argues was not qualified for the role. The Court said that this was her only piece of evidence showing gender discrimination, however, there was “not enough information for a reasonable jury to conclude that gender discrimination occurred.”

As for the claims of retaliation, Nieto cited the above incident, to which the court decided that these arguments were “once again insufficient to prove that the SBHA Board was not motivated by the Plaintiff’s job performance” and that she had not provided sufficient evidence.

The claim of Breach of Contract was dismissed as well on the basis that termination without good cause or severance is not a breach of contract.

On Tuesday of this week, Mayor Guerra said that the dismissal redeemed the parties named in the suit, adding that he was falsely accused of placing Cortez on the board to retaliate against Nieto. Guerra, however, said that Cortez, who left the board after the discovery of his criminal past came to light, acted on his own with the board and only notified him of Nieto’s dismissal as he further stressed that the SBHA bylaws require him, as mayor, to stay out of SBHA business, aside from nominating members to the board.

Efforts to reach Nieto or her attorney went unanswered as of newspaper deadline Thursday morning.