Posted on 06/19/2017 10:38:52 AM PDT by nickcarraway
An Uber driver in South Florida was given a hefty ticket for violating a county ordinance that speaks less to how she handles her vehicle than other skills.
Cell phone footage obtained exclusively by our sister station Telemundo 51 captured Carmen Echevarria, getting a $250 ticket from a Miami-Dade Police officer outside Miami International Airport. Her violation? Not being able to speak English correctly.
“I felt discriminated against,” Echevarria told the station. “I asked the (passenger sitting in her car) ‘Can you please help translate what she is saying?’ Then she asked why, if I was an Uber driver, I didn’t speak English.“
In May 2016, Miami-Dade County issued a memorandum with rules for transportation network drivers – with one of the requirements being "able to communicate in the English language."
“I told her ‘so sorry, a little English’ then she called the inspector who also confronted me and told me in order to be an Uber driver I need it to speak English”.
Last month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed into law CS/HB 221, which overrides local laws like the English requirement across the state and also spells out insurance and background check requirements for ride-sharing companies.
Uber spokesman Javi Correoso sent a statement to NBC 6 saying the company is "proud of the diversity of driver partners in the South Florida market." Correoso went on to say that until statewide regulations go into effect on July 1, Uber asks all driver partners in the state to follow all applicable local laws and regulations.
The current language requirement for drivers in Miami is not listed on the Uber website for the area. Correoso said the memo law for Miami-Dade County is "very vague and difficult to enforce" and is not listed on their website because drivers are asked to follow all laws and regulations when they sign up.
Correoso said all paperwork given to drivers on applications is in English. He also said some fines for Uber drivers have been paid in the past by the company, but could not confirm if they would pay for Echevarria's fine.
They assumed we would not be stupid enough to give away our country.
I was in Miami recently and one of my Uber drivers spoke no English, so I ended up pointing three or four times with my finger to show him where I needed to be dropped off....no tip!
>>About half of the Uber drivers don’t speak english at all or very little.
>>They will be passing out a whole lot of tickets...
Only until July 1st, when the state law preempts the local ordinances.
If the person is living and working here, they should be motivated to learn the language well enough to do the job. If they are going to interact with customers, then it only makes sense.
I don’t think the government should be getting involved on this type of dispute. The blame here should be on Uber with their own vendors and customers on language/communications. If Uber wants to hire people that don’t speak the same language as their customers and then have them matched for a service (such as a ride) then that’s Uber’s problem.
Now if some other violation occurred, such as the driver staying parked at a location longer than the law allows, then that’s the driver’s problem & certainly Uber’s shared problem as the employer (or vendor) that is certainly is someone liable as the middleman with a piece of the money action, regardless of the employment status involved.
If the customer didn’t get the service they expected from Uber then they should have the fair right for redress. This could involve them putting a stop to the credit card transaction, seeking a refund, or some other remedy.
Let the free market work please. It’s the best way to protect customers, employees, and make our country greater than ever. And by free market I mean that monopolies, racketeering, and fraud don’t get protected & bad actors doing such activities get punished.
How come this doesn't apply to Hertz girl when I go to rent a car in Miami?
I hope they start with Miami International. The game is finding a terminal worker who will speak English. If one of the airport workers doesn’t want to help you, they blow you off by saying ‘No english.’
Local TV interviewed a guy this morning who has been in the U.S. for 15 years, is an “undocumented visitor” and is scheduled for deportation. He could not speak English so they had someone translate. Just irks me to no end.
First of all, he is an “illegal” and common courtesy requires that you speak the language English, particularly after being here for so long. We visited several European countries in the past and always made sure that we could speak common phrases in their native tongue.
IMO, the ability to read, write and speak English should be mandatory prior to granting citizenship. Don’t care what people speak, read or write in their own home but when in public English should be mandatory.
Agree and agree.
Related: I think it’s a travesty that ballots are printed in any language except English. That should be illegal. If you can’t speak English, you should not be voting.
” i think you should speak English in this country ..yes ... but its not illegal if you don’t “
I think it should be illegal to be hired for a job in America without speaking English if there’s even the slightest possibility you may need to communicate with anyone for any reason. Taxi/Uber drivers need to communicate. And, of course, it should be a requirement for citizenship.
Here in Central Florida many jobs require Spanish as there are so many Puerto Ricans who have moved here from their beautiful, corrupt, bankrupt island. On some occasions here and almost always in Miami I have to dust off my Spanish in order to communicate as some service personnel have no English.
We need a law that says all broadcasting has to be at least half in English. This will help them to learn our language.
And the appropriate response would be, "No? Well...f*** you."
I'll bet 100 pesos that would get a rise out of them.
It’s simple logic.
Citizenship is required for voting.
English is required for citizenship.
English only ballots.
I can't read the Constitution...it's written in Cursive.
I don't believe it for a minute. They are fakers.
We have an uncomfortable amount of weird foreigners here from outside the US in Central Florida that speak zero English. They have an entire infrastructure of non-natives that speak their gobbletygook. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of people trying to yap all kinds of foreign gibberish at me! Good for Gov. Scott!
I’m not commenting from a constitutional or legal perspective, but from a realistic perspective that anyone living here permanently is shooting themselves in the foot by not being fluent in English.
Hence my use of the words “should” and “realistic”.
A person’s failure to be fluent in (or at least have a working knowledge of) any country’s primary language when they choose that country as their home is indicative of their choice to not be part of the larger society in which they’ve immersed themselves. We’re not the Balkans.
Stupid.
I’ve been in many cabs where the driver spoke either Farsi, Urdu or Spanish....
They seem to know their way around though....
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