They Get You Coming...
And they get you going.
Therefore they get you.
Case in point:
In 2007, the EEOC sued the Salvation Army when it tried to enforce its "English-only" rule - i.e., its rule requiring employees to speak only English while on the job - in its Thrift Store in Framingham, Massachussetts.
So why not, you may ask? Isn't that just being nasty? If you have employees who are more comfortable communicating with one another in Spanish, then why not let them? Who does it hurt?
Well, here's why not: because the EEOC also holds employers responsible for what their employees say, when it comes to claims of sexual &/or racial harassment. Which results in grotesque situations like this:
"A roulette worker at Foxwoods [Casino] came up the big loser when he bet that nine women gathered around his table - including an NYPD sergeant, FBI special agent and a Long Island cop - couldn't understand the gross comments he was making about them in Spanish.
"It turned out the party also included Michelle Margliano, a businesswoman who used to teach bilingual education and was able to comprende every disgusting word...
"...Marigliano was stunned to hear two Hispanic employees spinning the roulette ball and handling chips making highly off-color remarks in Spanish."
[Sample: "These (expletive deleted)'s need a big (expletive deleted) to loosen them up and then maybe these (expletive deleted)'s would tip better.]
So these nine women have now filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against - wait for it - the casino.
That's right - the casino. Not the offending employees, at least one of whom was apparently fired on the spot. The casino. Because the employer gets held responsible for whatever his employees say - even if they say it in a language he doesn't understand.
Obvious solution for employers? Never hire an employee who speaks a language that you don't speak yourself. Because the EEOC will (a) sue you if you forbid him to speak that language on the job, and (b) smile upon those who sue you if he says anything offensive in that language.
Hat tip to James Fulford.
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Live not by lies.
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References -
From your link, it seems that the EEOC isn't objecting to English only rules with valid business rationales, just an arbitrary application of a rule after if had been neglected for years.
--More Wagster!
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)What a disappointment. When I saw the title I thought this diary would have porn links.
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)Your 'obvious solution' goes too far.
I think an employer can get away with hiring one who speaks an unknown language. Just make sure it's not two employees, otherwise they might end up together at the roulette table making insulting remarks about the customers in their own language.
As to why the women are suing the casino rather than someone else, well, remember they are gamblers who are probably willing to take a chance to win a bigger payoff.
--Nothing resembles virtue more than a great crime. Saint-Just
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)have an Employee Manual which prohibits such behavior? If they do, I doubt the plaintiffs will prevail.
If they don't, I'll bet they will next year!
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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)...have to have such a manual?
But yeah - I bet they soon will.
Such are the triumphs of multiculturalism.
--Live not by lies.
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| parent ).
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )Little meanies.
--Live not by lies.
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| parent )from wrecking civilization though.
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )You can do irony, I can do irony. So what's up next?
--Live not by lies.
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| parent )Now I'm doing pedantry. :)
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )...of looking at feet all day?
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )that's pederasty.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )with a pedo file.
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )heel thy self.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )...certainly brought a halt to the conversation.
--Live not by lies.
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| parent )keeping folks on their toes.
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )n/t.
--Live not by lies.
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| parent ).
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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| parent )Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.
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| parent )from arch conservatives?
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )step carefully around here.
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent ).
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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| parent )who's gonna sue the Salvation Army? And what will they do with 20,000 gently used Santa suits?
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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)The EEOC?
As for what they're going to do with the Santa suits? Your guess is as good as mine.
I suspect that they will consider their mission accomplished once the poor old Salvation Army is no more, and that the Santa suits will be burned. But that's only my suspicion.
--Live not by lies.
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| parent )by sidewalk Santas. Unfortunately, their speech was unintelligible, so no lawsuits; no jolly old elf suits.
Given the premise of your diary though, sounds like the Salvation Army's safe going ahead and sticking with the EEOC.
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )if we were all bilingual as Obama wants?
No, need to thank us. It's what we do!
:)
--Standard Disclaimer: I only speak for myself. I may or not agree with others. Ask, if you are curious. If I post about X I may not have an opinion about Y, no matter how closely related you think they are.
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)Heh. Hispanics aren't our *only* immigrants, you know!
--Live not by lies.
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| parent )Jimminy Christmas - how many f&^%ing fences do we have to build in this country?
--Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.
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| parent )...to be squabbling with me over immigration policy.
You need to be mending fences with...
...oh, wait. I can't continue that sentence...
All the best,
V.
P.S.: Miss NPB would like to point out that there's only one "m" in "jiminy."
--Live not by lies.
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| parent )Why do you assume we disagree?
And as for 'mending fences' - well, it takes some gall to go from word-play like that to correcting my spelling of 'jimminy [sic]', of all flipping words.
--Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.
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| parent )...in gall.
--Live not by lies.
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| parent )Or perhaps northern Italian?
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )...that the rules of the game allow me to answer that question honestly.
--Live not by lies.
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| parent )Don't get punny with Miss NPB.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )