Calif. court to hear 'no-Tagalog' discrimination case in Jan 2011

The hearing of a civil rights suit filed by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (USEEOC) on behalf of 34 Filipino hospital workers in southern California who were allegedly discriminated against for being Filipino and prevented from speaking their language in the workplace is set for Jan. 18 next year. Court records showed that the 34 were accusing their employers, the Central California Foundation for Health (CCFH) and the Delano Regional Medical Center (DRMC) of discriminating against them by banning Tagalog or Filipino speech, while allowing Latino hospital workers to speak Spanish and Indian employees to speak Hindi. In their suit filed Aug. 18 before Judge Jennifer L. Thurston of the Eastern District Court of California in Bakersfield, Kern County, the Filipinos claimed that undergoing such ethnic discrimination affected their mental wellbeing and poisoned their work environment. In a 12-page complaint, the 34 claimed that the CCFH and DRMC did not only single out Filipinos as a group in imposing its language policy, but that the employers had also subjected them since August 2006 to “disparate treatment in the terms, conditions and privileges of their employment." In its complaint letter, the USEEOC noted that the 34 had been subjected to humiliation in meetings where they were berated, intimidated and threatened. The complainants were identified as:

• Rebecca Aguinaldo,
• Pacita Agustin,
• Maria Busto,
• Herminia Cariño,
• Nora Casimiro,
• Hilda Ducusin,
• Consolacion Galafate,
• Luz Gallegos,
• Wilma Lamug,
• Vemlis Pagsuberon,
• Priscilla Penalosa,
• Federico Quiniones,
• Sixto Ramos,
• Vilma Tutop,
• Romeo Villamor,
• Ferdinand Baraceros,
• Ednalyn Arciaga,
• Sol Manaois,
• Maribelle Manankil,
• Evangeline Picato,
• Arsenia Ringor,
• Michelle Cabbab,
• Angelita Baligad,
• Patricia Serafica,
• Erlinda Camtuya,
• Tomasa Gumallaoi,
• Manuela Aninion,
• Anafe Escorpiso,
• Elnora Cayme,
• Charito Bilog,
• Elizabeth Batchar,
• Joselito Munoz,
• Belen Cabbab, and
• Calixto Lamugand.

The 34 workers were also subjected to “scrutiny, threats of surveillance, warnings of severe disciplinary actions and actual disciplinary actions" while non-Filipinos were not targeted, the independent federal law agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination said. They were also “subjected to unwelcome remarks, taunting, hostile remarks, humiliating comments (and) chastising based on national origin," it said. According to the Filipinos and the USEEOC, the threats, taunts and harassment were “sufficiently frequent and severe" enough “to create an atmosphere of inferiority, isolation and intimidation based on national origin." They are also asking the court to enjoin the two hospitals to stop discriminating against Filipino workers now and in the future. The two hospitals were not only being asked to "correct unlawful employment practices" but to “provide appropriate relief" to the complainants. Because the effect of this harassment was to deprive Filipinos of equal employment opportunities, and since this was “done intentionally, with malice and reckless indifference," the Filipinos were asking for both moral and pecuniary damages. Hospitals deny charges In an eight-page answer, the hospitals denied the charges and accused the Filipino workers of failing to “timely report any and all alleged harassment or discrimination." The employers said that the discrimination charges had "never (been the) subject of proper administrative proceedings." Turning the tables on their accusers, the CCFH and DRMC charged the Filipino employees of “non-performance of assigned job duties and responsibilities, habitual neglect, working with ‘unclean hands’ and failure and lack of jurisdiction by the court for "emotional distress." The Filipinos are being represented by lawyers from the Los Angeles, California-based EEOC led by regional attorneys Anna Y. Park, Michael J. Farrell and Amrita Mallik The two hospitals are being represented by lawyers Robert D. Harding and John R. Szewczyk of the Clifford & Brown law office in Bakersfield.—DM/JV, GMANews.TV