discrimination

BEE HIVE HONEY COMPANY , INC

MEMORANDUM

To : Benjamin B . Hive , President

From : Sylvia D . Shyster , Legal Department

Date : 05 /01 /07

Re : Monica De Grazia Spanish at Work Situation

Mr : Hive

As we previously discussed , I have researched the legality of the possibility of

firing Monica De Grazia , who has continued to speak Spanish to her co-workers in the

Finance Department during work hours , despite written warnings from my office and

from her direct supervisor , Mary Escobar

Despite the high volume of documentation on this matter

regarding Ms . De Grazia , I am recommending that she not be terminated or reprimanded further . This is

based on research conducted by this office into the legality of taking such measures

There are several court cases which have ruled in favor of employees in cases similar to

our facts . These cases have ruled that , in most cases , blanket banning of Spanish speaking

while at work violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as The Civil Rights

Act of 1991 . Additionally , rules promulgated by the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission (EEOC ) may be violated if we terminate Ms . De Grazia on the basis of her

exercising her right to speak Spanish while working and on the basis of race and national

origin discrimination

In one of the leading court case involving employee 's rights to speak Spanish on

the job (Maldanado v . City of Altus , et al (2006 , the court held that a speaking Spanish at work is a violation of both aforementioned Civil Rights Acts unless

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there is strong evidence showing that the ban is necessary for either the safety of other

workers , vendors , and /or customers or if it is necessary by virtue of a business necessity

While I would like to say that there is no disparate impact or disparate treatment

of the non-Spanish speaking employees here , I cannot do so . I believe that this new

proposed policy unnecessarily singles out Latino employees and is therefore invalid

under the aforementioned acts

The legal department strongly believes that taking any such action could lead to

litigation initiated by Ms .De Grazia for violation of her civil rights based on statutory law

and case precedent

Some portions of the relevant court cases appear below

But the Supreme Court has `repeatedly made clear that although Title VII

mentions specific employment decisions with immediate consequences , the scope of the

prohibition is not limited to economic or tangible discrimination , and that it covers more

than terms and conditions in the narrow contractual sense (Maldanado , et al . The

court also cites as authority the case of Griggs v . Duke Power Co (401 U .S . 424 , 431 (1971 ) in which the court stated emphatically To prevail on these claims , Plaintiff 's

need not show that the policy was created with discriminatory intent

The EEOC guidelines for English-only workplaces can be found at 29 Code of

Federal Regulations which state that English-only workplaces presumptively violate the

civil rights of Spanish speaking and bilingual employees . The...