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Verizon Tells Employees English Only, Please
The Tampa Tribune ^ | Aug. 23, 2013 | ichard Mullins | Tribune Staff

Posted on 08/24/2013 4:41:24 AM PDT by Iron Munro

Verizon executives in Tampa Bay are informally telling employees that they should be speaking English only when on the job.

Not because Verizon has an English-only policy at work — it doesn’t — but because speaking Spanish at work when not absolutely necessary can make nearby English-only speakers feel excluded.

This topic came to a head recently in Tampa when three employees of a Verizon dispatch center were speaking Spanish together, and another employee made a complaint because she felt excluded. The tri-lingual newspaper La Gaceta first reported on the incident this week, telling the story of Margaret Hess, a Verizon employee of 33 years who was asked to speak only English with her co-workers.

Verizon spokesman Bob Elek confirmed the incident, and described the company language policy this way.

“Generally, we tell employees they can speak Spanish (or any other language) on break, lunch or any time away from the work area,” he wrote in an official statement. However, when employees are on the dispatch center floor or other work setting, they should speak English, he said. This promotes “positive employee relations” because it’s courteous to co-workers, and employees should be “mindful” of making others feel uncomfortable, Elek said, “not because they’re speaking Spanish’, but because for some it can create a feeling of separation versus inclusion.”

Elek said that Verizon absolutely encourages employees to speak Spanish as part of their jobs – when it’s necessary to communicate with customers or for other business reasons.

This issue “pops up all the time because there’s friction between cultures,” said Tony Morejon, a cultural affairs liaison for Hillsborough County. “I encourage people to learn English ... but some employees are going to resent this kind of rule. Some will say they won’t speak Spanish for business purposes unless they’re required to, because they feel used. Like ‘Oh when you want me to speak Spanish you say do that, but not other times.’”

Guidelines from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allow a company to have a narrowly tailored policy requiring English in the workplace, so long as the policy is not adopted with an intent to discriminate, said Reed Russell, a partner with the law firm of Phelps Dunbar and a former legal counsel to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Companies can require English in many places and times for reasons like workplace safety, efficiency and “harmony,” or official communications.

“Where employers get into difficulty with the EEOC is if the rule is overbroad,” he said, for instance an English-only rule on all company grounds at all times. “This is one of those issues that gets a lot of discussion, but there are not that many EEOC charges or lawsuits filed. It gets a lot of people agitated on both sides of the issue. Some say such a policy is racist or mean-spirited. Others say you should only speak English in America.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: english; spanish
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To: Iron Munro

Speaking a language not understood by everyone in earshot used to be considered rude.
My older brother lived in Brazil for some years. I went to visit him many yrs. ago.
When talking to the locals and between locals in my presence they insisted he translate the conversations for my benefit.

Growing up in Miami and living through Castro’s takeover and the subsequent influx of Cubans, I saw first hand that was/is not the case.
One of my hot points today. It’s rude!


21 posted on 08/24/2013 5:41:04 AM PDT by Vinnie
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To: Blue Highway
I see the spanish speaking way too often in businesses for it to be acceptable. Go into any fast food restaurant and you’d think you were in Mehico.

Sounds like a good time to comment:

"Hey bastards...This is the United States. If you can't speak English, you can't have our money." and walk out.

22 posted on 08/24/2013 5:41:13 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves Month")
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To: Iron Munro

I ran a large call, multi lingual call center.

English on the floor. Your “assigned” language on the phone. You were paid more for being bilingual.

I did not give a hoot what you spoke in the break room or parking lot. Here is a clue: They are not talking about you.

People need to lighten up.


23 posted on 08/24/2013 5:41:38 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will watch the watchers?)
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To: tx_eggman
Listen for the word culereo. Pendejo is another of their favorites

Thanks! Have the recorder going and can their butts.

24 posted on 08/24/2013 6:25:35 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: Iron Munro
I love it when we use their own Alinsky tactics against them.
25 posted on 08/24/2013 6:42:32 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
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To: Iron Munro

My sentiments exactly. I demand English in my dealings with companies. Likewise, we can turn their exclusionary sensibilities right back on them. Payback is a b!tch Jose.


26 posted on 08/24/2013 6:47:14 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Right Wing Assault

>>They don’t want you to know

¿Quién comió los Anasazi.


27 posted on 08/24/2013 6:50:15 AM PDT by TArcher ("TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS, governments are instituted among men" -- Does that still work?)
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To: Iron Munro

This is America. Why should they speak any other language? If they want to speak Spanish, they can move to Mexico.


28 posted on 08/24/2013 7:58:55 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (The time for impreachment has come.)
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To: Iron Munro
but because speaking Spanish at work when not absolutely necessary can make nearby English-only speakers feel excluded.

Excluded?? No, it's rude, ignorant behavior and it pisses me off. This is 'Merica dammit, we speak ENGLISH.

Want to speak spanish all the time? GO F'ing BACK TO YOUR 'HOME' COUNTRY!

29 posted on 08/24/2013 8:02:41 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: TArcher
¿Quién comió los Anasazi. No sé, pero este era una comida sabrosa. I cheated and used a translator. My only Spanish is "¿Qué?"
30 posted on 08/24/2013 8:05:56 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: Right Wing Assault

http://www.google.com/#q=anasazi+cannibalism

Kinda takes the air out of LaRaza’s “Cultural Pride” balloon when certain FACTS are brought to light.


31 posted on 08/24/2013 8:15:41 AM PDT by TArcher ("TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS, governments are instituted among men" -- Does that still work?)
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To: jmaroneps37

Para español, presione uno.


32 posted on 08/24/2013 10:20:06 AM PDT by Rodamala
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To: Paradox
I speak spanish, but when spanish speaking coworkers start conversations in spanish, I immediately shift it into english.

I tend to respond to Spanish being thrown at me ... with Chinese! That usually leads to a conversation about being courteous and not excluding people.

But then again, I speak four languages so I have a lot of opportunity to create havoc among people who "just don't get it".

33 posted on 08/24/2013 11:37:59 AM PDT by superloser
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To: bdog2995

“I used to live in Tampa Fl. and was born there. I have watched my old neighborhood and city transformed into a 3rd world country over the past 53 yrs.”

My town only took about 30 years to transform from American-American to North Quito. It isn’t unsafe, just completely foreign.


34 posted on 08/24/2013 12:03:44 PM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Iron Munro

Good, I don’t want to speak Hindi when talking to the phone service reps!


35 posted on 08/24/2013 12:04:47 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Iron Munro

Oh, they’re sure to back down from this, now that the story is in the papers. I have 10 bucks that says Verizon caves within a week.


36 posted on 08/24/2013 12:16:11 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (It wasn't the Rodeo Clown's act, it was the crowd reaction they could't take.)
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To: usconservative

Want to speak spanish all the time?
GO F'ing BACK TO YOUR 'HOME' COUNTRY!

Thanks for your heartfelt comments.

Next time don't hold it in so much!


37 posted on 08/24/2013 2:53:54 PM PDT by Iron Munro (To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize - Voltaire)
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To: Vermont Lt
You “ran a large call, multi lingual call center” and didn't know how often most people insulted other people when they assumed their targets did not comprehend the language?

Really?

Just how long were you in charge of running that call center?

38 posted on 08/25/2013 6:56:47 PM PDT by sarasmom (The obvious takes longer to discover for the obtuse.)
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To: sarasmom

You are so wrong. I have run them for twenty years. The paranoid whites/Anglos also think we were always talking about them in our staff meetings too.

Telling someone they cannot speak their native language on their own time is an idiot.


39 posted on 08/25/2013 8:13:10 PM PDT by Vermont Lt (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will watch the watchers?)
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To: Revolting cat!

"Hola, me llamo, 'Peggy'"

40 posted on 08/25/2013 8:17:46 PM PDT by dfwgator
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