If we didn't eavesdrop, we would never have known that Prince Charles wanted to be reincarnated as a tampon. ;-)
Posted on 08/12/2005 6:25:58 AM PDT by jaydubya2
Some Chicago businesses post "Se Habla Espanol" signs to boast about their Spanish-speaking employees.
But two hair stylists said in a federal lawsuit Thursday that their former bosses at Supercuts posted a different sign:
"Speaking a language other than English is not only disrespectful, it's also prohibited."
Stylists say the notice was put up in 2003, directed at employees as Supercuts managers allegedly barred them from speaking Spanish anywhere at work -- including in the break room or other places outside the earshot of customers.
Supercuts says there is no such ban.
"We absolutely, vehemently deny the allegations and believe the evidence will show otherwise," attorney Davi Hirsch said Thursday.
EEOC on the case
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which joined in the lawsuit, argues that such a ban is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits employment discrimination based on national origin.
The EEOC, along with private attorney Kamran Memon, brought the lawsuit against Primps LLC and Management Advantage Group LLC, which own more than 20 Supercuts salons in the city and suburbs.
One of the stylists, Rosa Gonzalez, 54, of Chicago, said her bosses shot her dirty looks or would reprimand her if she spoke Spanish to co-workers while on break, or at other times, even when customers weren't around.
The ban was lifted, she said, only if a customer didn't know any English.
"I think it's not fair," said Gonzalez, who came to the United States 27 years ago from Guanajuato, Mexico. "Business[es] need to understand that we are free to speak our language."
No such rule, company says
Memon said Gonzalez and another stylist who filed the lawsuit, Blanca Sauceda, were reprimanded sometimes several times a week for speaking in Spanish on breaks. The two worked for the company at various locations for more than 10 years.
They ultimately quit at their Michigan Avenue location after they felt uncomfortable at work.
Memon said the two wouldn't challenge a policy that limits Spanish being spoken in front of English-speaking customers. But Memon said Gonzalez and Sauceda were told it was "ignorant" and "disrespectful" to speak Spanish at work.
EEOC trial attorney Ann Henry said the suit was brought after managers allegedly enforced a blanket ban at "more than one location."
But Hirsch, who represents the 20 Supercuts owned by Management Advantage Group, said no such ban exists and that the suggestion of one is ludicrous because Supercuts' work force is heavily Hispanic.
Hirsch said there is a written policy limiting language other than English.
"The goal of the policy was to speak essentially whatever language you chose in the lunchroom or on breaks, when you're not servicing customers," Hirsch said.
Hirsch questioned why the employees didn't raise concerns until after they left the company.
If we didn't eavesdrop, we would never have known that Prince Charles wanted to be reincarnated as a tampon. ;-)
As I understand it, Cortes had a lady interpreter. IAC. to this very day what distiguisges a Mexican from an Indian is that the former speaks Spanish and the latter his native tongue.
We will know we have a BIG problem when English ceases to be the language of instruction in some public schools. And that day may come. The first sign of danger is when bilingural teachers are given preference over English-only teachers. That is doublly dangerous. It not only deprives the children of a proper language model, it often deprives them of better-informed teachers.
Where's the ZOT here?
ok 'banger
ok 'banger
Have you ever read any American History or ever stepped foot outside of your own home town?
Having spent most of my life in San Diego, I was exposed to a broad vocabulary of Spanish words. Aside from the inescapable geographical and food references, the next most recognizable words are the expletives and slurs. The Mexicans routinely spewed that trash at the non-Mexicans in my junior high and high school environments.
A video camera with a sound track would go a long way toward dealing with the foul mouthed "Spanish speakers" who believe they can get away with it.
Get lost.
So: What's your point?
"...the United States that has flourished on its diversity."
The US has flourished because of democracy and capitalism and freedom - NOT because of diversity.
You need to spend less time listening to PSAs.
I'm not even going to bother with the question that's just begging to be asked. Instead, let me relate a personal anecdote. A friend of ours does HVAC repair, and is the contractor for a local fellow who owns numerous rental houses and apartments. He says when he goes to repair A/C units he often finds 10-15 Hispanics living in a two-bedroom apartment, with mattresses all over the floors, including the closets. Non-English speaking, too, so they can't tell him what's wrong. He says his friend laughs about knowing they're mostly illegals, but as long as they pay their rent on time and in cash, he doesn't care. He has a 96% occupancy rate, too.
(Oh, BTW, when my family was looking for an apartment to stay in while we house-hunted, we were required to rent at a unit of at least 3 bedrooms, because state law requires one bedroom for every two people living in the unit, and we are a family of five. Why did landlords enforce the size limit on us gringos, but laughingly waive it when three times as many illegals want to live in a one- or two-bedroom place?)
No inference intended toward you personally, mind you; I'm just relating what I've seen here. Too many businesses use the CHA CHING! excuse as justification for breaking the law.
That your statement, "In this country, we speak and conduct business in one language: English" is nothing but Bravo Sierra and that anybody that has not lived his entire life in the deep woods of Appalachia would know it.
Thanks.
Where did I say anything about "diversity" or "celebrating" anything?
You made a factually false statement that any American that has ever stepped foot out of the back woods would know is ridiculously false and I called you on it.
Unlike "Fake but Accurate" CBS, when you claim a falsehood on FR, somebody on FR is going to come along and call you on it.
No, I didn't. My statement was actually quite correct. I don't care about little pockets in cities and towns where people who don't care to learn English don't speak it.
Fact of the matter is, if American businesses want to work with other American businesses, you do it in English. If you stepped foot out of your own hole (which others would call your a$$) you would know this to be true.
You may not like that and wholeheartedly support political correctness and racial and ethnic diversity, but I don't play that game. I am an American. And I speak English. Got it?
No, I didn't. My statement was actually quite correct.
The statement "In this country, we speak and conduct business in one language: English" is quite correct?
Sorry, but it is utterly naive.
I don't care about little pockets in cities and towns where people who don't care to learn English don't speak it. Fact of the matter is, if American businesses want to work with other American businesses, you do it in English.
You don't get around much in the world of American business, do you?
Americans in American businesses can do business in any language of any commercial nation in the world right out of their U.S. offices.
American businesses employ armies of bilingual or trilingual or multi-lingual Americans that can sit down and negotiate contracts or conference call or correspond with clients either in New York City or Boston or Paris or Berlin or Tokyo or Mexico City or Moscow or Calcutta in whatever language the client may speak.
"American businesses" can be either a Mom and Pop store in Valdosta, Georgia or in Chinatown, San Francisco or it can be DaimlerChrysler AG with corporate offices and/or manufacturing plants in the U.S., Germany, Brazil, France, Austria, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Indonesia, South Africa, Spain, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland and Great Britain.
I am an American. And I speak English. Got it?
I am an American too and I also speak English but what does your inability to communicate in a language other than English have to do with the fact that millions of other Americans in American businesses can and do communicate and do business every day in just about any other language know to man and some other Americans, when the need arose during World War II, called in for U.S. Navy gunfire support in Navaho.?
The fact that you can only speak English does not make you any more of an "American" than your fellow Americans that can speak not only English but can also speak Navajo or Cajun or Cherokee or Russian or German or Chinese or Spanish.
The spirit of America is the Can Do Spirit and not the Can't Do Spirit.
Tell you what: Why don't you start going to every one of the businesses on your street, and ask them what language they conduct business in. I think you would be surprised to find it is English.
Not willing to do that? Then shut for your PC piehole.
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