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<h1 class="entry-title">La Cantera Resort Sued For Discrimination, ‘English-Only’ Policy</h1>
<h5 class="gmail-byline"><span class="gmail-by-author"> <span class="gmail-author gmail-vcard"><img src="https://3snpdc2ba9m5uwuk62n8cs84-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_3558-32x32.jpg" alt="Jackie Wang" class="gmail-avatar gmail-avatar-32 gmail-photo" width="32" height="32"> <a class="gmail-url gmail-fn gmail-n" href="https://therivardreport.com/author/jackie-wang/" title="Read All Posts By Jackie Wang" rel="author">Jackie Wang</a> <span class="gmail-twitter"></span></span></span> <span class="gmail-time-ago">15 hours ago</span></h5>
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<img src="https://3snpdc2ba9m5uwuk62n8cs84-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/557BB660-26BF-4CAA-AF90-3B54C18C3379-1170x878.jpeg" class="gmail-attachment-full gmail-size-full gmail-wp-post-image" alt="" width="1170" height="878"> <p class="gmail-wp-media-credit">Jackie Wang / Rivard Report</p>
<p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Javier Espinoza of Espinoza Law Firm
explains the discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC at a press
conference on Monday, Sept. 24. Plaintiffs of the lawsuit stand behind
him.</p>
</div>
<div class="entry-content gmail-clearfix"> <span class="gmail-last-modified">Updated <span class="gmail-time-ago">6 mins ago</span></span> </div>
This story has been updated.
<p>La Cantera Resort & Spa’s operators face a federal lawsuit over
discrimination, including a so-called “English-only” policy for its
employees.</p>
<p>After three years of investigation, the <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Equal Employment Opportunity Commission</a>
(EEOC) on Monday filed a federal lawsuit against DH San Antonio
Management for discriminating against employees who spoke Spanish at
work – including while on break or while serving at events such as
quinceañeras.</p>
<p>The EEOC filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of 25 current and former employees of <a href="https://www.destinationhotels.com/la-cantera-resort-and-spa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">La Cantera Resort & Spa</a>. San Antonio-based <a href="http://espinozafirm.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Espinoza Law Firm</a>
joined the agency on the lawsuit, which was filed in the Western
District of Texas. The local law firm represents the plaintiffs who
originally filed a claim with the EEOC in 2015 – 23 of the 25 named in
the lawsuit.</p>
<p>According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, <a href="https://therivardreport.com/la-cantera-hill-country-resort-undergoing-major-renovation-next-april/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the resort in Northwest San Antonio changed management in 2014</a>
and began prohibiting employees from speaking Spanish. Management
allegedly punished those who violated the language ban with write-ups,
demotions, and firings.</p>
<p>The lawsuit claims that Kathleen Bischoff, who was hired in 2014 and
oversaw the resort’s banquet department alongside fellow new hire Will
Primavera, called Hispanics “Mexican spics” and said Spanish was a “foul
language.” One plaintiff, who complained to human resources about the
English-only policy, was subsequently<strong> </strong>demoted from
supervisor to server. The plaintiff, who had worked as a supervisor for
25 years, refused to accept the demotion and was then fired.</p>
<p>Sergio Vitela, one of the plaintiffs represented by Espinoza Law
Firm, worked for La Cantera for 12 years. Vitela said he was fired after
speaking Spanish on the job. He and his father both worked at La
Cantera at the time.</p>
<p>“My father, he speaks Spanish, and they were telling me not to talk
to my dad in Spanish, and I can’t [not speak Spanish] – it’s my father,”
Vitela said. “That’s when I started seeing the first signs of them not
liking our culture and race, really. They were telling us not to speak
any Spanish.”</p>
Related: <a href="https://therivardreport.com/jorge-ramos-this-is-not-a-time-to-be-silent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jorge Ramos: ‘This Is Not a Time to Be Silent’</a>
<p>Vitela said his father understands English, but not being allowed to
speak in his native language was difficult. According to Vitela,
Espinoza, and some La Cantera staffers, Vitela is the only person in the
group of 23 individuals who filed a claim with EEOC who speaks English
fluently — the rest speak it proficiently enough to do their jobs.
Vitela said he had to encourage his coworkers to file an EEOC claim
against La Cantera for discrimination, as many of them were afraid of
losing their jobs.</p>
<p>“Whatever [La Cantera was] doing, it’s illegal,” Vitela said.</p>
<p>John Spomer, vice president and managing director of the resort, denied “any claims<span style="font-weight:400"> related
to unwritten policies that allegedly existed three or four years ago.”
He said that at Destination Hotels, the company that operates La
Cantera, they celebrate the heritage of San Antonio.</span></p>
<p>“W<span style="font-weight:400">e work very hard to foster an environment which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity,” Spomer said. “</span><span style="font-weight:400">We’re
proud that we employ a diverse multicultural workforce, and encourage
our associates to converse with our guests and each other in a language
that was mutually understood. And they’ve always been allowed to do
that.”</span></p>
<p>Spomer said the only language guideline at the resort is to speak the language a guest speaks to you in.</p>
<p>“It’s part of the service business,” he said. “W<span style="font-weight:400">hen spoken to in one language, we should speak in that language.”</span></p>
<p>Spomer added that employees are welcome to speak to each other in the language they choose.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“If there are no guests and you’re in
the associate cafeteria or in the back of the house corridors, feel
free to converse in a language that whoever you’re speaking to mutually
understands,” he said. “That’s been going on since the day I’ve been
here.”</span></p>
<p>Javier Espinoza, attorney at Espinoza Law Firm, said it took
claimants a lot of courage to file a complaint against their employer.</p>
<p>“They could have said, ‘I’m not gonna burn a bridge, I want to keep
my job,’” he said. “But they said, ‘I want to do something because, this
isn’t right for anybody in this town.’”</p>
<p>Usually, the EEOC either gives claimants a “right to sue” letter or
determines there is not enough evidence to do so, Espinoza explained.
But in this case, the agency found the claims were valid and the
evidence strong enough to bring the lawsuit forward itself.</p>
<p>“That’s like a 600 pound gorilla behind us, for sure,” Espinoza said,
adding that this is the first lawsuit of this nature in San Antonio to
the best of his knowledge.</p>
<p>“I think speaking Spanish is innate to Hispanics,” Espinoza said.
“When you grow up with something innate to you – your language, the food
you eat, the music you listen to – I have no right to discriminate
against your culture.”</p>
<br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" 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></div>