Government Worker in U.S. Fired for Speaking English

NewsMax ^ | May 7, 2002 | Staff

[Bubba_Leroy]

Tuesday, May 7, 2002 Government Worker in U.S. Fired for Speaking English

An employee of Miami-Dade County, harassed by Latino co-workers for being a white American, says she was fired for speaking English on the job.

"I was referred to as the gringa, the Americana," Zita Wilensky told Miami's WSVN-TV. "Did they mean it in a polite way or a derogatory 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."

She was the only "Anglo" in the Domestic Violence Unit. All of her co-workers were Hispanic, and she says they liked to play tricks on her.

"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."

A 16-year county employee, she has a personnel file full of letters of praise, but the racial discrimination began to take its toll.

"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," WSVN reported.

Wilensky told the station: "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 the county, she was fired (merely) for transferring the call to the clerk's office. Wilensky says she transferred it because she wanted what she thought was a Spanish-speaking caller to talk to someone. Her boss claims she just requested that Wilensky learn Spanish, but a letter from the boss says Wilensky must speak Spanish, the TV station reported.

The result: After her long service with the county, she was fired and replaced by a Hispanic.

Now she is looking into whether an American can be fired for not speaking Spanish on the job.

WSVN says that according to its legal expert, Howard Finkelstein: "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."

Finkelstein added: "An employer cannot allow an employee to be subjected to racial slurs like gringo, or to be ridiculed or intimidated. ... That's called a hostile work enviroment, and that's illegal."

If Wilensky sues the county, she has an excellant chance of winning, he said.

The banana republic of Miami-Dade County, by the way, is the same government that failed to fire three black firemen who refused to respond to emergency calls until an "offensive" American flag was removed from a fire truck.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Sue the bastards.

[Rays_Dad]

yeah I am going to have to agree -- Sue and Sue and Sue and Sue some more

[tenderstone jr.]

We're going to start seeing many more cases like this as the Hispanic invasion continues. I remember reading that in Oakland, there are many jobs you cannot get if you don't speak Spanish.

I doubt this lady will get any money in a lawsuit. If it was a Spanish speaking woman who got fired, there would be a big payout, I'm sure.

[da_toolman]

Entirely Bullsh!t ping

[Ahban]

Outraged.

[maxwellp]

As Rush Limbaugh said today, "Imagine being fired for speaking English in the United States of America".

[uscit]

Americans have been voting with their feet and abandoning areas with burgeoning immigrant populations like South Florida, but pretty soon there will be no place run. And both major parties are going to keep cramming these third world peoples down our throats probably until Americans explode in rage at having their country taken from them.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I'm going to get flamed for this, but some employees are picked on, just like some kids in the schoolyard, because they are not good at social interaction. They get attention the wrong way, by tattling, or cover-up social problems by blaming others. Being the only one, whether it's race, sex, or age-related...you're going to get razzed. I once worked at a bakery where the front counter was manned by militant senior women who mercilessly picked on the high school kids. Really. (^: Life's tough. They survived. Flame away.

[widowithfoursons]

Living in a tiny enclave in northern FL (last bastion), I know that my children will have to "work within" this country as a minority. I only pray that they will have been inculcated to continue the fight for freedom that our Founders envisioned.

[Quix]

I hate the suit happiness-at-the-drop-of-a-hat society we have become but this is sure one time it's more than warranted. Sheesh.

[dmz]

no flames from me, I really get the sense there is more to this story than that oh-so-very-objective NewsMax (purchasing Pat Buchanan's latest book is only a click away from the article in question) lets on.

There is such a thing on the books as a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ for you acronymers). If the individual in question works with an exclusively Hispanic speaking group, wouldn't it make perfect sense for her to speak Spanish? Much the same as when you call your local Wal-Mart, you expect an English speaker at the other end of the line? And it would appear that she was given, in writing, a performance plan.

We're missing a piece of this story (but please don't let that stop the speculations)

[dmz]

so, in your world, it is appeasement to reserve judgement until the facts are in, and to not swallow whole that which NewsMax feeds us. LOL, and not with you, if you know what I mean.

[bok]

The United States has welcomed them with open arms and it is being spat upon for it's kindness. So yes it is appeasement when these immigrants refuse the english language. I would be curious if these were cubans harassing the woman, i know their is an immigration policy called wet-foot-dry-foot.

[dmz]

call me whatever you want, I will NOT swallow NewsMax stories whole anymore than I would something printed at democratic underground. Both have agendas that bias their writing. Is it so hard to accept that some (I, for one) are unwilling to make judgements without knowing more of the story? For that I am an appeasing sob? Again, LOL.

[patriot_wes]

Tuesday, May 7, 2002 Government Worker in U.S. Fired for Speaking English An employee of Miami-Dade County, harassed by Latino co-workers for being a white American, says she was fired for speaking English on the job.

Hey Florida repubs - time to get out the vote and bring Florida back to America!