Tammy and Joan are both white, English speaking female employees in a retirement home. They work in
Question:
Tammy and Joan are both white, English speaking female employees in a retirement home. They work in the dining room and have been employed there for 3 years each, and have excellent employment records and are well loved by the residents. Tammy is the head waitress and Joan is the assistant head waitress. During a shakeup, the kitchen manager is fired and a new manager is brought in from another retirement home in the area. The new manager brings in almost the entire wait-staff from his previous location. The new wait staff are all Hispanic and are paid $1/hour more on their first day, more than Tammy and Joan make after three years.
Immediately, Tammy and Joan begin getting scheduled for less shifts, substantially cutting into their hours and lowering their paychecks. Also, whenever Tammy and Joan are scheduled to work, the new waitstaff insist on speaking in Spanish in all areas, including the employee break room. One day, while Tammy and Joan are sitting in the break room, directly across the table from one another, two of the new waitstaff come in and sit at opposite ends of the table and begin a loud conversation in Spanish. The conversation is so loud, Tammy and Joan are no longer able to have a discussion, nor are the able to participate in the other conversation as neither of them speak Spanish. This behavior continues on a daily basis, Tammy and Joan feel increasingly uncomfortable at the conversations happening around them that they can't understand.
Tammy and Joan decide to speak to the kitchen manager and ask that the employees either speak English when in the common areas, or to be courteous enough to sit near each other when conversing in Spanish instead of yelling across a room in a language that is not commonly understood by all parties in the room. The kitchen manager ignores the request. Feeling more and more uncomfortable, Tammy and Joan go to the manager of the retirement center and bring forth their complains about the unequal pay, language issues, the feelings of uncomfortableness, and the kitchen managers unwillingness to address the concerns.
Subsequently, Tammy and Joan are both terminated for dress code violations and for complaining "outside the chain of command."
Discuss whether there is a national origin discrimination complaint that could be made by either Tammy/Joan, or the Hispanic wait staff. Use facts and case law to support your position.
Business and Administrative Communication
ISBN: 978-0073403182
10th edition
Authors: Kitty o. locker, Donna s. kienzler