The human resources policy of the Las Palmas Port Authority is facing an unprecedented legal challenge that threatens the institution’s stability. Hearings scheduled in the labor courts this week are opening new fronts against the organization’s head of Human Resources, Carmen Gloria Rodríguez, placing the inaction of the institution’s current president, Beatriz Calzada, at the center of the controversy amid a growing number of cases involving alleged workplace harassment, nepotism in selection processes and irregularities in her own appointment.
A criminal investigation into administrative prevarication and final judgments
The most complex situation for the port authority’s leadership stems from an investigation opened by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which identifies the head of Human Resources as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of administrative prevarication in connection with her own appointment, made during the tenure of former president Luis Ibarra. This criminal case is compounded by a final judgment issued in 2023 by the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC), which confirmed that a public-sector employee had been subjected to workplace harassment directly.
Despite the legal warnings issued by the victim’s legal representatives — who requested that disciplinary proceedings be opened and that she be provisionally suspended before the offense became time-barred in January 2026 — the port authority’s presidency has declined to take precautionary measures against the executive. The administrative inaction contrasts with the persistence of other active criminal cases involving alleged prevarication and harassment, including the complaint being handled by Investigating Court No. 6 of the capital of Gran Canaria.
The controversy over family hires
Pressure on the human resources department is intensifying with the arrival in the labor courts of challenges brought by the trade unions CSIF and Comisiones Obreras. The hearing scheduled at Labor Court No. 11 will address alleged irregularities detected in the selection process for the hiring of the head of Human Resources’ brother-in-law, a position allegedly awarded even though the candidate did not hold the qualifications required under the rules.
The legal proceedings also involve the hiring of the executive’s son, a procedure that, according to the union complaint, allegedly underwent substantial changes to the examination syllabus after the family member’s candidacy was formally submitted, in addition to the direct involvement of the head of Human Resources in drawing up the selection criteria.
Harassment trials and calls for an external audit
Meanwhile, Labor Court No. 3 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is hearing a new workplace harassment case brought by a Port Police officer. The litigation mirrors the allegations set out in a complaint previously filed by the port’s head of Environment, a case that was dropped after the organization paid the salary differences owed because it had failed to recognize his professional classification.
Against this backdrop of successive litigation, the CSIF union has called for an independent external audit of the Human Resources department of the Las Palmas Port Authority and an immediate review of the powers assigned to the president. Beatriz Calzada is waiting as the courts begin to determine the validity of the management structure at the port of Gran Canaria.
The article Raise Ravens: Court Battles Over Family Favoritism Begin at the Port of Las Palmas was first published on canarymaritime.com.
