NY Latinos Harassed For Speaking Spanish At Work

Eight Latino employees of the City of Rochester in New York claim that they were subject to harassment at work because of an “English only” policy in the public works department where they worked. The policy allegedly required the employees to speak English only at work, even when they were on breaks or were in the company of Spanish speakers.

The eight employees consequently filed suit in a U.S. District Court in New York state and they are seeking damages and attorney fees. The unwritten policy was apparently enforced by a newly hired supervisor and when mediation and a letter written to city officials didn’t solve the problem, the employees decided to file suit. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported:

The employees claim their supervisor instructed them, “if you want to speak Spanish, do it at home and not at the work place.” English-only speakers allegedly have taunted the workers about the ban, and they have “been subject to slurs, threatened discipline and other adverse and unfavorable acts in the terms and conditions of their employment.”

The employees’ tenures with the city range from less than four years up to 37-plus years…

While an English-only policy is enforceable for work purposes, such as when the employees are talking over radios about their work assignments, the city has tried to carry it further, she said — into the break room and when the employees are just coming into work and talking about their private lives.

The official city policy is that, for direct work purposes or to help customers, employees may be required to speak English, but the official city policy does not dictate what language employees speak to each other outside of those circumstances. I mean, seriously, this is New York, land of the immigrants we’re talking about here.

This is a scary policy, if you ask me. I’ve worked in places where peoples’ language skills range from only English, to a little bit of Spanish to hardly any English and fully bilingual. In all of those circumstances, I found that occasionally having conversations in Spanish (or Spanglish) could serve to build camaraderie, as well as team cohesion. If Spanish is a part of your culture, how can you possibly not leave it at home, and what does that have to do with anything if you’re doing your job anyway?

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD