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<div id="gmail-story-header"><h3 class="gmail-title">California store faces suit over no-Spanish language policy</h3>
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May 03, 2018 05:45 PM
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<span id="gmail-update_date">Updated May 03, 2018 05:47 PM</span>
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SAN DIEGO
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<p>A grocery store in San Diego
subjected Hispanic employees to harassment and a hostile work
environment by implementing a no-Spanish language policy, federal
officials said Thursday.</p>
<p>The U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit alleging store managers at
Albertsons publicly reprimanded Hispanic employees who were caught
speaking Spanish. The workers were barred from speaking Spanish around
non-Spanish speakers, even during breaks or when talking to
Spanish-speaking customers, the lawsuit said.</p>
<p>No action was taken despite employee complaints, causing some workers to transfer to other stores, according to the EEOC.</p><div class="gmail-teads-inread" style="margin:0px auto 25px;max-width:550px;height:357px"><div style=""><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-adchoices" style="display:block"></div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-label" style="display:block">ADVERTISING</div><div class="gmail-teads-player" id="gmail-teads0"></div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-credits" style="display:block"><a href="http://inread-experience.teads.tv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="gmail-teads-ui-components-credits-colored">inRead</span> invented by Teads</a></div></div></div>
<p>Albertsons wouldn't comment on the lawsuit but said in a statement that it does not require its employees speak English only.</p>
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<p>"Albertsons serves a diverse
customer population and encourages employees with foreign language
abilities to use those skills to serve its customers," the statement
said.</p>
<p>The conduct violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC said.</p>
<p>"It is extremely important for
workers to feel safe in coming forward to report harassment," said
Christopher Green, director of the EEOC's San Diego office. "It is
equally important for employers to make certain that harassment is
investigated and addressed appropriately."</p>
<p>The Albertsons chain is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the U.S., employing about 280,000 people in 35 states.</p><div style="width:1px;height:1px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font:normal normal normal normal 10pt sans-serif;text-align:left;text-transform:none;overflow:hidden"><br>Read more here: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article210422964.html#storylink=cpy">http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article210422964.html#storylink=cpy</a></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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