<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-title entry-title gmail-cleanprint-title">Janitorial contractor at LAX settles lawsuit over English-only policy for workers</h1>
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<img src="http://image.dailybreeze.com/storyimage/LI/20170417/NEWS/170419513/AR/0/AR-170419513.jpg&maxh=400&maxw=667" alt="LAX file photo by Scott Varley/SCNG">
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LAX file photo by Scott Varley/SCNG
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By City News Service
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Posted:
<time datetime="">04/17/17, 5:12 PM PDT</time>
<span class="gmail-divider">|</span>
<time datetime="">Updated: 5 hrs ago</time>
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</p><p>A janitorial airline contractor at Los Angeles
International Airport and more than a dozen of its employees have
settled a case alleging their supervisor improperly prohibited them from
speaking Spanish during work hours and breaks.</p><p>Attorneys
for lead plaintiff Irma Espinoza and the other Gate Gourmet workers
filed a notice of dismissal of the lawsuit last week in Los Angeles
Superior Court and a notice of settlement in March. No terms were
divulged.</p><p>In May 2015, the janitors sued Gate Gourmet —
which provides cabin cleaning and restocking services to Delta Air Lines
at LAX — accusing the company of failing to prevent the discriminatory
policy.</p>
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</p><p>The suit alleged unlawful workplace language policy,
harassment, failure to prevent discrimination and national origin
discrimination.</p><p>Gate Gourmet spokeswoman Christina
Ulosevich said at the time that the company “does not have an
English-only rule” and communicates with employees “in multiple
languages, and certainly in both English and Spanish in Los Angeles.”</p><p>The
plaintiffs worked for other companies that contracted with Delta
Airlines to clean the carrier’s cabins until Gate Gourmet began
servicing their planes in May 2014, the suit stated.</p>
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</p><p>From the inception of Gate Gourmet’s takeover, swing
shift manager Silvana Jahshan instituted an English-only policy,
according to the lawsuit.</p><p>“Gate Gourmet’s language policy
requires plaintiffs and employees who do not speak English to go
without speaking during a work day,” according to the suit, which
alleged Jahshan “intimidated, harassed and threatened” those plaintiffs
who spoke Spanish in violation of the rule.</p><p>“Plaintiffs
who only speak Spanish are too afraid to speak whatsoever due to fear of
discrimination, harassment, humiliation and discipline,” according to
the lawsuit.</p>
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</p><p>Gate Gourmet did not impose an English-only rule on its
morning or night shift workers even though those employees do the same
jobs as their colleagues on the swing shift, the suit stated.</p><p>When
the workers raised complaints about their supervisor’s alleged
English-only policy, Gate Gourmet’s management and human resources “did
not take any action whatsoever” to correct the behavior, according to
the suit.</p><p><a href="http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20170417/janitorial-contractor-at-lax-settles-lawsuit-over-english-only-policy-for-workers">http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20170417/janitorial-contractor-at-lax-settles-lawsuit-over-english-only-policy-for-workers</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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