A former Puerto Rico Family Department employee has filed a lawsuit in the Arecibo Court of First Instance seeking $1.35 million for alleged workplace harassment, retaliation, discrimination and civil rights violations. She attributes them to Family Department Secretary Suzanne Roig Fuertes and other agency officials. The plaintiff, identified as Blanca R. García Sostre, was the Family Department’s regional director in Arecibo.
She says she was subjected to a pattern of intimidation, humiliation, exclusion from official activities and administrative actions that harmed her professional performance and emotional well-being. According to the suit, Roig Fuertes called her "bruta" (dumb) and "mentirosa" (liar). García Sostre alleges she was excluded from an official event on May 14, 2025, where Roig Fuertes allegedly delegated institutional representation to the Regional Deputy Director.
Days earlier, Roig allegedly told her she did not want to see her at the event and not to be insubordinate, then went to the third floor of the Arecibo Regional Office and allegedly threatened to remove her. García Sostre also says that in a June 13, 2025 phone call Roig asked whether she was organizing employees to file a complaint against her at La Fortaleza, said she was not afraid of her, held greater institutional influence and would remove her whenever she saw fit.
The suit further alleges that on May 7, 2026, another employee physically attacked her at agency facilities, grabbing her shirt and scratching her neck in front of witnesses. It claims Regional Deputy Director Lynette Pérez Molinari made defamatory comments about her sexual orientation. It also alleges that between May 11 and 15, 2026, while she was on "forced vacation," two employees, with the secretary’s alleged approval, entered her office illegally and changed the locks.