[lg policy] California Hospital to Pay $975, 000 to Settle Racial Harassment, Discrimination Case

[Harold Schiffman]

California Hospital to Pay $975,000 to Settle Racial Harassment,
Discrimination Case

The EEOC said the hospital's English-only language policy was used to
harass and discriminate against Filipino employees in violation of
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

    By Sheena Harrison
    Published: September 17, 2012


A California hospital has agreed to pay a $975,000 settlement in a
harassment and discrimination case that alleged the employer created a
hostile work environment for Filipino staff members.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Asian Pacific
American Legal Center sued Delano, California-based Delano Regional
Medical Center in 2010 in U.S. District Court. The EEOC said the
hospital's English-only language policy was used to harass and
discriminate against Filipino employees in violation of Title VII of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The case involved claims from about 70 current and former Filipino
employees who said they were taunted and threatened by non-Filipino
employees for speaking Tagalog or other Filipino languages while
working at Delano.
English-only policy

In 2006, Delano's CEO and management held a meeting exclusively for
Filipino and Filipino-American employees regarding the health system's
English-only policy, according to a statement Sept. 17 from the EEOC.
The policy required workers to speak English at all times at work,
except during breaks or while working with non-English-speaking
patients.

For years after that point, EEOC said that the hospital and its policy
encouraged employees to act as "vigilantes" in reprimanding and
reporting Filipino employees who spoke Tagalog or Ilocano on the job.
While Filipino employees were disciplined for allegedly violating the
language policy, the EEOC said that workers who spoke Spanish and
other languages on the job were not disciplined.

Although language policies are not illegal, the EEOC contends that
such rules must have a business justification and cannot be used to
target specific workers, said Anna Park, regional attorney for the
EEOC District Office in Los Angeles.

"Under federal law, the EEOC takes the position that if it's a
draconian policy where you must speak English all the time, not
exempting out down time or time on your own, that we believe is ...
discriminatory," she said during a press conference Monday.

Elnora Cayme, a class member who spoke during the press conference,
said she and other Filipino employees were harassed by co-workers and
received complaints about their accents even while speaking English on
the job.

"I always felt like people were following and watching us," she said.

In addition to the settlement payment announced Sept. 17, Delano
entered into a three-year consent decree with the EEOC to develop
anti-discrimination procedures. The health system also must hire an
equal employment opportunity compliance monitor.

http://www.workforce.com/article/20120917/NEWS01/120919967/california-hospital-to-pay-975-000-to-settle-racial-harassment#

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