Chapala Mayor Gerardo Degollado may be forced to take a time-out from his post by an order of the Jalisco State Congress aimed at obligating his government to pay off a long overdue labor suit won by a former city hall employee.
The case involves a press office employee who was dismissed with the 2010 change of government. After winning an initial compensation claim she was reinstated in her job, only to be fired again a few months later. She thereafter filed and won a second labor suit which has yet to be paid. By the first of this year she was entitled to more than 800,000 pesos, an amount that continues to accumulate extra compensation for each day of lost salary.
The Chapala government’s failure to comply with court orders to settle the suit was brought before the state legislature’s commissions on governance and municipal development, which coincided in recommending the mayor’s suspension.
The finding must now be ratified or set aside by majority vote of the full body of Congress. Should it go through, Degollado will be relieved of his duties for at least two weeks without pay.
The Chapala government has been swamped with labor suits that for the most part originated in 2010 and 2011. Under Degollado and his predecessor Joaquin Huerta, the municipality’s legal department has managed to cut deals with 54 former employees who won claims against the government. City hall legal eagles also become more astute at arranging proper compensation for workers who lose their jobs in order to avoid future demands.
The current administration has negotiated settlements to pay off a backlog of 22 lost cases. Among those, 16 of the plaintiffs were represented by the same attorney, a specialist in labor law who earns a hefty 40 percent cut of the collected compensation payments.
Meanwhile, Degollado claims he isn’t worried about the outcome of the congressional procedure, insisting he is prepared to file criminal charges against claimants who acted in bad faith and former officials who didn’t properly fulfill their duties in defending the government’s interests.