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<p><strong class="gmail-dateline">SAN DIEGO (AP)</strong> - 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.</p><p>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><div id="gmail-taboola-mid-article-thumbnails-1" class="gmail-mod-inline-taboola"><div id="gmail-taboola-mid-article-thumbnails-1_0_1" class="gmail-trc_related_container gmail-trc_spotlight_widget gmail-trc_elastic gmail-trc_elastic_trc_59595"><div class="gmail-trc_rbox_container" style="display:block"><div><div id="gmail-trc_wrapper_59595" class="gmail-trc_rbox gmail-thumbnails-g gmail-trc-content-sponsored" style="overflow:hidden;display:block"><div id="gmail-trc_header_59595" class="gmail-trc_rbox_header gmail-trc_rbox_border_elm"><div class="gmail-trc_header_ext"><div class="gmail-logoDiv gmail-link-adc"><a class="gmail-trc_desktop_adc_link gmail-trc_attribution_position_top" rel="nofollow" href="http://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=myfox-myfoxdfw&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=thumbnails-g:MIDARTICLE - 1:" target="_blank"><span class="gmail-trc_adc_wrapper"><span class="gmail-trc_adc_s_logo"></span> </span><span class="gmail-trc_logos_v_align"> </span></a></div><div class="gmail-logoDiv gmail-link-attribution"><a class="gmail-trc_desktop_attribution_link gmail-trc_attribution_position_top" rel="nofollow" href="http://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=myfox-myfoxdfw&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=thumbnails-g:MIDARTICLE - 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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>
<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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