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EEOC Takes on the Salvation Army over English Policy - Alleges Discrimination
April 30, 2007 -In a complaint filed at the end of March in the United States District Court District of Massachusetts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says two Hispanic workers, one's national original is the Dominican Republic, and the other's is El Salvador) were subjected to discrimination by the Salvation Army "on the basis of their national origin (Hispanic) by requiring them to comply with Defendant's English-only rule, and terminating them because they failed to comply with its proficiency requirement, spoke Spanish in the workplace and were not fluent in speaking or understanding English."
The complaint says Dolores Escorbor and Maria Del Carmen Perdomo "both began work at Defendant's thrift store in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1999. Spanish is their native language and they both speak very little English."
The EEOC complaint alleges the following:
"They both worked commendably and without incident for at least five years, relying on Spanish as their principal means of workplace communication in their jobs as clothes sorters. In 2004, Defendant decided to enforce a written English language policy at the Framingham store, which it had not previously enforced while Escorbor and Perdomo had been employed. It delayed enforcement of the policy for at least a year.
During this year, employees who could not speak English adequately were told they needed to learn English, even though learning English was not a part of the written English language policy and was unrelated to the jobs they had been performing since 1999. On or about December 21, 2005, Defendant terminated both Escorbor and Perdomo for failing to learn English and for speaking Spanish.
The effect of the practices complained of above has been to deprive Escorbor and Perdomo of equal employment opportunities and otherwise adversely affect their status as employees because of their national origin, and to inflict emotional pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, embarrassment, humiliation, and inconvenience upon Escorbor and Perdomo.
The unlawful employment practices complained of above were intentional. The unlawful employment practices complained of above were done with malice or with reckless indifference to Escorbor's and Perdomo's federally protected rights."
Story was truncated for space... Read more at the cited weblink...
April 30, 2007 -In a complaint filed at the end of March in the United States District Court District of Massachusetts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says two Hispanic workers, one's national original is the Dominican Republic, and the other's is El Salvador) were subjected to discrimination by the Salvation Army "on the basis of their national origin (Hispanic) by requiring them to comply with Defendant's English-only rule, and terminating them because they failed to comply with its proficiency requirement, spoke Spanish in the workplace and were not fluent in speaking or understanding English."
The complaint says Dolores Escorbor and Maria Del Carmen Perdomo "both began work at Defendant's thrift store in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1999. Spanish is their native language and they both speak very little English."
The EEOC complaint alleges the following:
"They both worked commendably and without incident for at least five years, relying on Spanish as their principal means of workplace communication in their jobs as clothes sorters. In 2004, Defendant decided to enforce a written English language policy at the Framingham store, which it had not previously enforced while Escorbor and Perdomo had been employed. It delayed enforcement of the policy for at least a year.
During this year, employees who could not speak English adequately were told they needed to learn English, even though learning English was not a part of the written English language policy and was unrelated to the jobs they had been performing since 1999. On or about December 21, 2005, Defendant terminated both Escorbor and Perdomo for failing to learn English and for speaking Spanish.
The effect of the practices complained of above has been to deprive Escorbor and Perdomo of equal employment opportunities and otherwise adversely affect their status as employees because of their national origin, and to inflict emotional pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, embarrassment, humiliation, and inconvenience upon Escorbor and Perdomo.
The unlawful employment practices complained of above were intentional. The unlawful employment practices complained of above were done with malice or with reckless indifference to Escorbor's and Perdomo's federally protected rights."
Story was truncated for space... Read more at the cited weblink...