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<div class="gmail-card-content gmail-align-left"><h1 class="gmail-spaced gmail-spaced-xl gmail-spaced-top gmail-spaced-bottom">Regulators sue Albertsons, saying it violated Latino workers' rights by banning Spanish</h1> </div> <div class="gmail-card-footer gmail-flex-container-row gmail-flex-mobile-column gmail-align-items-center"> <div class="gmail-byline-container gmail-flex-container-row gmail-align-items-center"> <div class="gmail-byline-image-container gmail-hidden-mobile gmail-spaced gmail-spaced-right gmail-spaced-sm"> </div> <div class="gmail-byline-timestamp-container gmail-flex-container-row gmail-flex-tablet-column gmail-flex-mobile-column gmail-align-items-center"> <div class="gmail-byline-wrapper"> <span class="gmail-byline gmail-byline-article">By <a class="gmail-uppercase" href="http://www.latimes.com/sdut-morgan-cook-staff.html#nt=byline" rel="author"><span class="gmail-uppercase">Morgan Cook</span></a> </span> </div> <span class="gmail-spaced gmail-spaced-right gmail-spaced-md gmail-hidden-mobile"></span> <div class="gmail-timestamp-wrapper"> <span class="gmail-timestamp gmail-timestamp-article"> May 04, 2018 </span> <span class="gmail-timestamp gmail-spaced gmail-spaced-sm gmail-spaced-left gmail-spaced-right">|</span> <span class="gmail-timestamp gmail-timestamp-article"> 4:05 PM </span> </div> </div> </div> <span class="gmail-sharebar gmail-align-right gmail-flex"> </span></div><span class="gmail-sharebar gmail-align-right gmail-flex"> </span><header id="gmail-top" class="gmail-top gmail-full-columns"><div class="gmail-wrapper gmail-clearfix gmail-full gmail-pb-feature gmail-pb-layout-item gmail-pb-f-article-header" id="gmail-fYMcA925SpN0Rq"><div class="gmail-card"><div class="gmail-card-footer gmail-flex-container-row gmail-flex-mobile-column gmail-align-items-center"><span class="gmail-sharebar gmail-align-right gmail-flex"> <a class="gmail-button gmail-button-icon gmail-button-icon-hover-accent gmail-button-icon-accent" href="mailto:?subject=Regulators%20sue%20Albertsons%2C%20saying%20it%20violated%20Latino%20workers%27%20rights%20by%20banning%20Spanish&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fla-fi-albertsons-spanish-20180504-story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer"> <i class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-share"></i> </a> </span> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-pb-container"> </div> </header> <section id="gmail-left" class="gmail-left gmail-guttered gmail-width-100"> <div class="gmail-wrapper gmail-clearfix gmail-full gmail-pb-feature gmail-pb-layout-item gmail-pb-f-utilities-lead-art" id="gmail-fp1URp15SpN0Rq"> <div class="gmail-card gmail-card-captioned"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <figure class="gmail-"> <div class="gmail-full-width gmail-img-container gmail-aspect-ratio-no-aspect"> <img class="gmail-full-width" alt="Regulators sue Albertsons, saying it violated Latino workers' rights by banning Spanish" src="http://www.latimes.com/resizer/EW5dw0DxvXckMWDtB6Z3JYSyGMI=/1400x0/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/BCSPSCXZZNHJ7EPN7PGCS676XI.jpg"> </div> <figcaption class="gmail-caption-text gmail-spaced gmail-spaced-top gmail-spaced-sm gmail-flex-container-row gmail-justify-space-between"> <div>Albertsons
developed an unwritten “English-only policy” about six years ago, the
government's lawsuit alleges. (Geri Lavrov / Moment Editorial/Getty
Images)</div> <span class="gmail-sharebar"> </span></figcaption></figure></div></div></div></section><span class="gmail-sharebar"> </span> <div class="gmail-"> </div> <div class="gmail-collection gmail-collection-cards"> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Albertsons
grocery stores violated the rights of Latino employees with a policy
forbidding workers to speak Spanish around non-Spanish speakers — even
when conversing with one another during breaks or helping
Spanish-speaking customers, according to a new lawsuit.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p style="margin-bottom:40px">The
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Albertsons Cos. on
Thursday in federal court. The lawsuit accuses the Idaho-based chain of
discriminating against Latino employees at San Diego-area stores,
harassing them and subjecting them to a hostile workplace because of
their race or country of origin.</p> </div> </div><div class="gmail-teads-inread" style="margin:16px auto;max-width:550px;height:357px"><div style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-adchoices" style="display:block"></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 class="gmail-teads-player" id="gmail-teads1"></div><div id="gmail-moatPxDiv431392" style="width:0px;height:0px"></div><div id="gmail-moatPxDiv838581" style="width:0px;height:0px"></div><div id="gmail-moatPxDiv620650" style="width:0px;height:0px"></div><div id="gmail-moatPxDiv953516" style="width:0px;height:0px"></div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-label" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-family: Benton\ Medium; font-size: 9px; text-align: right; line-height: 16px; font-weight: 400;">ADVERTISEMENT</div></div></div><div class="gmail-teads-inread" style="margin:16px auto;max-width:550px;height:0px"><div style=""><div class="gmail-teads-player" id="gmail-teads0"></div></div></div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>"Employers
have to be aware of the consequences of certain language policies,"
Anna Park, an attorney for the commission's district office covering San
Diego County, said in a statement Thursday. "Targeting a particular
language for censorship is often synonymous with targeting a particular
national origin, which is both illegal and highly destructive to
workplace morale and productivity."</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Albertsons
is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States,
operating stores — including Safeway, Vons and Pavilions — in 35 states
and the District of Columbia.</p> <div class="gmail-desktop-nativo gmail-mobile-yieldmo gmail-inline-ad-arrow"> <i class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-angle-down gmail-flex-container-column gmail-flex-row-reverse"></i> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-desktop-nativo gmail-mobile-yieldmo gmail-inline-ad"> <span class="gmail-hidden-mobile"><div class="gmail-wrapper gmail-clearfix gmail-full gmail-pb-feature gmail-pb-layout-item gmail-pb-f-ads-nativo" id="gmail-fq1vVg2OukqbRq"> <div class="gmail-hidden-mobile"> <div class="gmail-ntv-arc-plc gmail-card gmail-ntv1081094-240054-52109 gmail-ntvClickOut" id="gmail-ntv1081094-240054-52109">
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</div><div id="gmail-8993" class="gmail-desktop-nativo-ad gmail-trb_ar_nt"></div> </div> </div></span> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>"While
we cannot comment on this pending litigation specifically, Albertsons
does not require that its employees speak English only," company
spokeswoman Jenna Watkinson said in a statement. "Albertsons serves a
diverse customer population and encourages employees with foreign
language abilities to use those skills to serve its customers."</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>In
or around 2012, Albertsons developed an unwritten "English-only
policy," which Albertsons "implemented as essentially a no Spanish
policy," the lawsuit alleges.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Christine
Park-Gonzalez, deputy director of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission's Los Angeles district office, said one of the key issues of
the lawsuit is that, in an Albertsons training video, two workers are
shown speaking Spanish, and the video suggests that it's best if workers
refrain from speaking Spanish in front of workers who do not speak the
language.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Park-Gonzalez
said an upper-level manager at an Albertsons store on Lake Murray
Boulevard in San Diego took an aggressive stance regarding the policy,
telling workers they couldn't speak Spanish at the store, even on break
and even if a customer started talking to them in Spanish.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>The lawsuit said non-Latino employees were not similarly harassed or subjected to the no-Spanish policy.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>"It
became a hostile work environment that impacted the employees of the
store where they were disciplined and disciplined publicly in front of
others," Park-Gonzalez said.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>David
Loy, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in San
Diego, said that he did not know enough about the facts of the lawsuit
to comment on it specifically, but that typically, English-only policies
must be justified by a business as a necessity, such as for safety
reasons.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Loy
said it was not obvious to him what business necessity would require
employees to speak only English, even on their breaks or when serving
Spanish-speaking customers, but the justification may be more clear once
the parties have had time to present the facts and circumstances
surrounding the policy decision.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>One
on occasion in October 2012, the manager reprimanded Hispanic workers
Guadalupe Zamorano, an employee since 2007, and Hermelinda Stevenson, an
employee since 1989, "in front of the store" for speaking Spanish, the
lawsuit alleged.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Afterward,
Zamorano called "Albertsons' hotline to complain about the manager's
conduct and prohibition against speaking Spanish at work," the lawsuit
reads.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>After
she lodged her complaint, "a union representative investigated the
complaint, and told Zamorano that she needed to speak English because
she was living in the United States. There was no further action taken
in regards to the complaint," the lawsuit said.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Staffers
at the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135 union office, which
represents workers in San Diego County, said they never received a
complaint from Albertsons employees regarding an English-only policy.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>"The
first we heard about it at the union was [Thursday] when it broke in
the news," said Mickey Kasparian, the Local 135 union president. He said
union staffers then looked through grievances from earlier years and
found no such complaint. "We take these matters very seriously, and if
it had been reported to us, we would have been immediately on top of
this."</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Park-Gonzalez,
with the employment commission, said that the union was involved in
some capacity, but that she couldn't expand further on what that means
because of the pending litigation.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>In
December 2012, Zamorano was again reprimanded — this time because she
was speaking Spanish to a Spanish-speaking customer — and told to speak
only English at work, the lawsuit says.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>The following year, the suit says, Zamorano and Stevenson requested transfers to other stores.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>Stevenson
asked for the transfer in June 2013 because harassment and other issues
at work were making her sick with anxiety and stomach problems, the
lawsuit says. It says that in November 2013, Zamorano also asked for a
transfer, citing harassment and that the manager refused to submit her
request until she removed the statement about harassment.</p> </div> </div> <div class="gmail-card gmail-collection-item"> <div class="gmail-card-content"> <p>The
lawsuit asks the court to order Albertsons to stop discriminating
against employees based on their national origin, to compensate the
aggrieved employees for monetary losses and emotional pain according to
proof at trial, to award punitive damages and to pay the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission's legal costs.</p> </div> </div></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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