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December 16, 2004

Whittier St. settles language complaint

Yawu Miller

The Whittier Street Health Center last week settled a discrimination claim filed with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and the National Labor Relations Board by a group of Latino workers who were fired after protesting what they say was the center's English-only policy.

Whittier Street officials paid an undisclosed sum to two workers who were fired after protesting the policy, removed warnings from other workers’ files and agreed to undergo diversity training under the terms of the settlement.

“We believed that the center’s language policy violated our civil rights and looked for ways to defend ourselves,” said Juan Carlos Gorlier, a former case worker at the center who was terminated. “We feel this settlement vindicates our efforts.”

Whittier Street Executive Director Frederica Williams would not comment on the settlement, but James Harder a spokesman for the health center released the following statement:

“Whittier Street Health Center is pleased to have completed a positive settlement process with the EEOC and other parties. Through this process, we have gained valuable feedback, counsel and insight on improving our employee and customer service policies and programs.”

The controversy began last year after complaints surfaced that staff members were carrying on conversations in Spanish while clients were waiting to be served. Williams responded by issuing guidelines calling for English to be used as the “professional language” of the health center.

Under the guidelines, staff were forbidden from speaking with each other in any language other than English while clients were present. Staff were allowed to speak their native languages while in the lunch room or in enclosed offices.

In September of last year, 14 Spanish speaking employees collectively challenged the center's language policy and were subsequently given written warnings. Gorlier and one other employee were later fired after they publicly challenged the policy.

Gorlier says his termination was in retaliation for his opposition to the center's language policy, but Williams told the Banner that Gorlier and others were terminated because of budget cuts. Both the EEOC and the NLRB found probable cause that the center's language policy was discriminatory and that the center retaliated against its employees.

The controversy around the language policy spilled over to the center's board of directors. Three Latino members of the board resigned during the conflict.

“This was an issue we tried to help the board move beyond,” said former board member Jose Alicea. “I was looked at as an enemy because I was a Latino.”

The controversy around Whittier’s language policy drew considerable media coverage with journalists questioning whether the issue signaled a rift between the city’s black and Latino populations. The League of United Latin American Citizens, a national civil rights organization led protests against the health center.

Former Whittier Street Executive Director Elmer Freeman questioned Williams’ policy in an e-mail, citing what he called a divisive atmosphere at the center.

The controversy propmted state representatives William Lantigua, and Jeffrey Sanchez to file legislation banning language restrictions in places of employment.

League of United Latin American Citizens State Director Regla Gonzalez said the Whittier Street incident prompted her organization to meet with the US Department of Health and Human Services.

“For LULAC, the right to speak our native language is a fundamental priority,” Gonzalez said. “We are convinced that restrictions on the use of Spanish in workplaces constitute forms of discrimination that should be denounced and rejected.”

 

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