When Executive Director Frederica Williams instituted a policy banning Whittier Street Health Center employees from speaking Spanish in front of non Spanish-speaking clients earlier this year, Latino activists denounced the change as a discriminatory English-only policy.
The phrase "English-only" alone was enough to spur members of the city's Latino community to protest what many saw as a blatant case of nativism.
Williams' directive then changed into what she termed an "English first" policy, mandating that customers be greeted in English, then spoken to in whatever language they understood. Under the policy, employees were barred from speaking Spanish to each other within earshot of clients.
Spanish-speaking Whittier employees say that at least seven people were fired for protesting the policy, a charge Williams denies. Two former employees filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, both of which are investigating the claims.
Now, with a hearing before an administrative judge at the NLRB scheduled for June 28, Williams' policy maintains that English is the "common language of the center," the policy has largely removed language from the equation.
"Employees and staff members should not engage in extended personal conversations in the presence of patients," the new guidelines read.
While the new guidelines may be legally defensible, activists say the firing of the Latino employees who were involved in protesting the language policy constituted a violation of the workers' civil rights and deprived clients of access to Spanish-speaking health care workers.
"We feel that the English policy that was adopted was illegal and discriminatory," said ACLU attorney Sarah Wunch, who is representing two former employees. "By issuing final warnings against employees who resisted the policy and firing some of them, the clinic retaliated against people who were engaged in protected activity."
While activists claim that seven out of fourteen employees who signed a letter in protest of the language policy were fired, Williams maintains that no employees were fired in retaliation for the opposition to the English-first policy. Williams said she will argue her case before the NLRB administrative judge.
"What [the NLRB] said was that there were complaints," she told the Banner. "They felt we should go before a judge. I welcome the opportunity to do that."
"They did not make a judgement of wrongdoing," David Kerma, an attorney with Jackson Lewis, a Chicago-based law firm that specializes in labor disputes.
Juan Carlos Gorlier, who says he was fired in retaliation for opposition to Williams' language policy, said he sees the NLRB decision to hear the case as a win, however.
"To learn that the NLRB has found enough evidence is a very important victory," he said. "We knew this all along. We experienced this coercion, this retaliation all along. But it's very important that a federal agency took a long, hard look at the facts and validated what we experienced."
The difference between Gorlier's take on the NLRB hearing and Williams' underscores the vast differences in perception between the Latino workers and the executive director.
Williams says Gorlier was not fired and was not an employee of Whittier Street, but rather a contractor. When budget constraints forced the health center to make layoffs, Gorlier was cut along with others, according to Williams.
At the June 28 hearing, Gorlier will argue that he was fired for his participation in a campaign to reverse what the Latino activists say was an illegal English-only policy. Gorlier says he was told he was fired, told to collect his belongings and escorted from the building, without the opportunity to explain his departure to his clients.
Williams' attorney Kerma said Gorlier's hasty departure is a normal business practice.
"There's always a concern about safety," he said. "When a decision is made, often times an employee is required to leave the same day."
But Gorlier says his termination reeked of retaliation from start to finish.
"Early in January an article about the controversy appeared in El Mundo," Gorlier said, referring to the popular Boston-based Spanish language weekly. "[Williams] called me to her office and threatened to fire me. I was fired the 28th."
While Gorlier will try his case in June, activists say the beef has already created fractures in Whittier Street's staff and patient base. Williams issued an apology April 2 for the rift.
"It was never my intention to disrespect the Latino community, nor to jeopardize the many years of good work of Latinos and African Americans who have strived to work together for a common cause," she wrote.
But Regla Gonzalez, state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, says Williams' apology is simply not enough. Latino clients of the health center have suffered because Spanish-speaking staff members have been laid off or quit in the wake of the controversy.
"An apology does not provide better services to the Latino clients of the health center," Gonzalez said. "An apology does not make sure that not a single client has fallen through the cracks."
Article copyright The Bay State Banner.
Photograph (Regla Gonzalez speaks during press conference)
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