My Grandson has been living with us in Houston for the last 6 months. He’s 18, of Norwegian descent, white as white can be and found himself a job at local fast food joint. He recently got his high school degree (GED) and is earning money for his continued education.
At work he generally gets along with everyone at work including many Hispanics. What he has experienced is that near the end of his shift, a couple of older Hispanic ladies arrive to start their shift, and they have been hostile to him, since he first met them. He does not speak Spanish, but they hello in Spanish to everyone except him, buenas dias!
And they talk about him and complain about him among themselves regularly in Spanish. He acts as a cook, he does things like clean his grill during his shift and restock his station frequently, yet invariably as soon as these ladies arrive they start talking about him in Spanish, in a derisive tone, laughing, and demand that he clean his station even if it does not need it, but what they do is tell the Hispanic supervisor in Spanish, and then the Supervisor who tells him. He hears the word gringo a lot during these periods. Apparently these ladies have a reputation. Other supervisors have acknowledged this.
Part of the problem I that these 2 Hispanic employees are using Spanish as a weapon to discriminate against our Grandson, my appraisel. Instead of voicing whatever complaints that have in English, it is being conducted in such a mander he has no idea what is being said about him, but he is smart enough to recognize hostility directed at him.
I looked up English Speaking Rules at the Federal Govt and found something which sounds like a guideline but not a law:
A workplace English-only rule that is applied only at certain times may be adopted only under very limited circumstances that are justified by business necessity. 29 C.F.R. § 1606.7(b) Such a rule must be narrowly tailored to address the business necessity. Situations in which business necessity would justify an English-only rule include:
Thoughts?
At work he generally gets along with everyone at work including many Hispanics. What he has experienced is that near the end of his shift, a couple of older Hispanic ladies arrive to start their shift, and they have been hostile to him, since he first met them. He does not speak Spanish, but they hello in Spanish to everyone except him, buenas dias!
And they talk about him and complain about him among themselves regularly in Spanish. He acts as a cook, he does things like clean his grill during his shift and restock his station frequently, yet invariably as soon as these ladies arrive they start talking about him in Spanish, in a derisive tone, laughing, and demand that he clean his station even if it does not need it, but what they do is tell the Hispanic supervisor in Spanish, and then the Supervisor who tells him. He hears the word gringo a lot during these periods. Apparently these ladies have a reputation. Other supervisors have acknowledged this.
Part of the problem I that these 2 Hispanic employees are using Spanish as a weapon to discriminate against our Grandson, my appraisel. Instead of voicing whatever complaints that have in English, it is being conducted in such a mander he has no idea what is being said about him, but he is smart enough to recognize hostility directed at him.
I looked up English Speaking Rules at the Federal Govt and found something which sounds like a guideline but not a law:
A workplace English-only rule that is applied only at certain times may be adopted only under very limited circumstances that are justified by business necessity. 29 C.F.R. § 1606.7(b) Such a rule must be narrowly tailored to address the business necessity. Situations in which business necessity would justify an English-only rule include:
- For communications with customers, coworkers, or supervisors who only speak English
Thoughts?