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Woman fired for speaking English
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Fired & Furious
Click here for the video
Posted: May 1, 2002 06:25 PM
Reporter: Patrick Fraser
Producer: Diana Reed
(WSVN) Zita Wilensky loves to help people. In fact she is a foster mother to kids with special needs.
Zita Wilensky, a victim of discrimination, says "Right now we have a little boy. We are in the process of adopting and he is learning delayed, but he is coming along great."
Professionally, Zita is not doing so well. She says, "I really do feel I was discriminated against and if I didn't I wouldn't be telling you."
Zita worked for Miami-Dade County for 16 years. The last two in the Domestic Violence Unit.
Her file is full of letters of praise, but she began to encounter one major problem.
She says, "I was referred to as the gringa, the Americana. Did they mean it in a polite way or a deragatory way? In some ways at times it was joking. But then it was like every single day and you know what? I have a name."
Zita was the only Anglo in the County Unit. All of her co-workers were Hispanic and she says they liked to play tricks on her.
She says, "My boss presented me with an envelope one day when the anthrax was going around and told me "come here could you smell this? This just came in the mail." Big joke in front of the whole department. Made me look like an idiot."
Then Zita was told she had to speak Spanish in the office. She was given 60 days to learn. After 30 days her boss disguised her voice and called her.
Zita says, "So she called pretending to be someone who didn't speak English. And when you could not communicate she fired you? Yes...that's how it happened."
According to a county document, Zita was fired for transferring the call to the clerk's office. Zita said she transferred it because she wanted what she thought was a Spanish speaking caller to talk to someone.
Either way, despite her protests, after 16 years with the county, Zita was fired and replaced by an Hispanic.
Now her question: can an Anglo be fired for not speaking Spanish on the job?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News Legal Expert, says "The Florida Constituion says that English is the official language of the government. So you can't fire someone simply because they don't speak Spanish and you can't fire them simply because they are Anglo. That's discrimination. That's illegal."
Howard says you cannot be discrimated against based upon national origin, religion, sex, and race. Such as blacks, whites, hispanics, asians, and on and on.
and howard says that includes the treatment employees like zita receive on the job.
"An employer cannot allow an employee to be subjected to racial slurs like gringo, or to be ridiculed or intimidated...thats called a hostile work enviroment and thats illegal."
Zita would like to go back to work for Miami-Dade County, not in the same office, but in a place where no kind of discrimination is tolerated.
When we talked to a county official, we were told Zita was fired because she transferred calls improperly.
They also deny she was fired because she was an anglo and she was not required to speak Spanish.
Her boss just requested that she learn Spanish. But contradicting that, this letter from her boss says its a necessity that she speaks Spanish.
Howard says if Zita sues the county, she has an excellant chance of winning.
Zita says right now she simply wants to find a job.
Problems don't discriminate - so race to the phone. We'll have an answer clear in any language.
(Copyright 2002 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
http://www.wsvn.com/extra/helpmehoward/archives/view_story.html?storyid=20020501-182618
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Click here for the video
Posted: May 1, 2002 06:25 PM
Reporter: Patrick Fraser
Producer: Diana Reed
(WSVN) Zita Wilensky loves to help people. In fact she is a foster mother to kids with special needs.
Zita Wilensky, a victim of discrimination, says "Right now we have a little boy. We are in the process of adopting and he is learning delayed, but he is coming along great."
Professionally, Zita is not doing so well. She says, "I really do feel I was discriminated against and if I didn't I wouldn't be telling you."
Zita worked for Miami-Dade County for 16 years. The last two in the Domestic Violence Unit.
Her file is full of letters of praise, but she began to encounter one major problem.
She says, "I was referred to as the gringa, the Americana. Did they mean it in a polite way or a deragatory way? In some ways at times it was joking. But then it was like every single day and you know what? I have a name."
Zita was the only Anglo in the County Unit. All of her co-workers were Hispanic and she says they liked to play tricks on her.
She says, "My boss presented me with an envelope one day when the anthrax was going around and told me "come here could you smell this? This just came in the mail." Big joke in front of the whole department. Made me look like an idiot."
Then Zita was told she had to speak Spanish in the office. She was given 60 days to learn. After 30 days her boss disguised her voice and called her.
Zita says, "So she called pretending to be someone who didn't speak English. And when you could not communicate she fired you? Yes...that's how it happened."
According to a county document, Zita was fired for transferring the call to the clerk's office. Zita said she transferred it because she wanted what she thought was a Spanish speaking caller to talk to someone.
Either way, despite her protests, after 16 years with the county, Zita was fired and replaced by an Hispanic.
Now her question: can an Anglo be fired for not speaking Spanish on the job?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News Legal Expert, says "The Florida Constituion says that English is the official language of the government. So you can't fire someone simply because they don't speak Spanish and you can't fire them simply because they are Anglo. That's discrimination. That's illegal."
Howard says you cannot be discrimated against based upon national origin, religion, sex, and race. Such as blacks, whites, hispanics, asians, and on and on.
and howard says that includes the treatment employees like zita receive on the job.
"An employer cannot allow an employee to be subjected to racial slurs like gringo, or to be ridiculed or intimidated...thats called a hostile work enviroment and thats illegal."
Zita would like to go back to work for Miami-Dade County, not in the same office, but in a place where no kind of discrimination is tolerated.
When we talked to a county official, we were told Zita was fired because she transferred calls improperly.
They also deny she was fired because she was an anglo and she was not required to speak Spanish.
Her boss just requested that she learn Spanish. But contradicting that, this letter from her boss says its a necessity that she speaks Spanish.
Howard says if Zita sues the county, she has an excellant chance of winning.
Zita says right now she simply wants to find a job.
Problems don't discriminate - so race to the phone. We'll have an answer clear in any language.
(Copyright 2002 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
http://www.wsvn.com/extra/helpmehoward/archives/view_story.html?storyid=20020501-182618
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
Lord Lowrider the LoquaciousMember:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.
Mudge the vindictive
I can't come to work today. The voices said, STAY HOME AND CLEAN THE GUNS!
Edited by - mudge on 05/08/2002 13:00:01
Merc
NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!
****************************************
"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
We speak ENGLISH in this country. If you don't speak it, learn it.
Lord Lowrider the LoquaciousMember:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.
Mudge the vindictive has it right - the boss is toast and the tax rate rises if this goes to trial.
Do not mistake my kindness for weakness.
IALEFI, ASLET, NRA, and proud owner of a pair of S&W revolvers.
Some people just shouldn't be allowed to breed
It doesn't matter to me what color your skin is,,or where your ancestors lived,, However, in my opinion, the only way for these great United States to remain great is to have one common, central, language, English!!
"No dear, this isn't a new gun,,I've had this one for quite a long time,,honest,,"
My point is, don't knock all the people just because of where they live or where they came from. Remember that most of the folks in this country are descendants of other places...some just came here earlier than others. There still are a few good immigrants.
Vet.
AlleninAlaska aglore@gci.net
How would you rather die, 10,000 foot pounds of muzzle energy in the BUTT or a sharp knife in the HEART?
Long live the Paul Revere Society.
SSG idsman75, U.S. ARMY