No Hable Espanol at Sephora

An interesting lawsuit in our multicultural city: A judge is deciding whether or not some Sephora employees were discriminated against for speaking Spanish on the job. While Federal Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled that the cosmetics retailer could restrict its employees to speaking only English while on the job, she will examine whether or not the women "faced retaliation" from management, as one woman was fired. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tells the Daily News, "To be told that you can't speak the language that is most natural to them as Hispanics is hurtful," and its class-action lawsuit against Sephora was filed "on behalf of all Latino workers at Sephora stores in New York."
Some of the injustices employees are claiming is that they were criticized for speaking Spanish to a South American customer and for speaking Spanish to each other during breaks, though managers spoke in other languages to their relatives on the phone and in French to stockboys. Sephora says they encourage employees to speak customers' native languages, but feels that speaking in non-English language can seem offputting.

This issue is fascinating, because, of course, most of us are used to going into local stores and just dealing with employees speaking in other languages (at the nail salon, at the bodega, basically almost anywhere), but Sephora is a global retailer with other concerns. Yes, the English-most-of-the-time policy is still what stands at Sephora, but it's just surprising, since New York City attracts a diverse population, both of New Yorkers and tourists, who would probably be glad to hear a familiar language. The EEOC had a linguistics expert testify that "bilingual Hispanics are unable to refrain from speaking Spanish to others fluent in the same language," which then brings up how much of your culture are you supposed to leave at the door when you go to work.

Two months ago, Curbed mentioned that a downtown apartment building had been reprimanding workers for speaking in Spanish on the job.

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By Jen Chung in News on November 21, 2005 1:46 PM

Comments [rss]

xnxox

If the illiteracy of the help out there bugs you so much, why don't you volunteer at an adult literacy program and help someone instead of insulting? Maybe because there would be one less person for you to feel superior to. I know what kind of customer you are.

johnsmith

Not being fluent in spanish, I seriously wonder if these people even use proper grammar in their native tongue. I am never at a loss for amazement at the illiteracy of the help out there.

Employment Lawyer

The case is not about being forced to speak English while on the job or on the salesfloor. It is about non-English speakers being prohibited from speaking in whatever language they want while "on break" or not on the salesfloor.

As well, only Spanish-speaking employees were prohibited- not other languages. That smacks of discrimination.

The central issue would be- can an employer restrict an employee to English-only anywhere on the property while "on duty"? NO- that's discriminatory.

S.D.

Cool! Must have just beat you...

;-)

claire

S.D., we were typing at the same time. word.

claire

i hope you people are kidding. i'd understand if maybe these employees couldn't speak english or refused to speak it, but that does not seem to be the case at all. there are tons of spanish-speaking tourists in this city, and as Jen mentioned, i'm sure they greatly appreciate having people speak to them in their native language at Sephora, especially if they're looking for something in particular and can't quite verbalize it in English. this should be looked upon as great customer service instead of the other way around. i agree that the EEOC comment is a bit ridiculous, but Sephora needs to find something better to worry about. jesus. i can't believe this is an issue in New York. ugh.

S.D.

IMO, Not so simple. From the Article:

In depositions, employees said they were singled out for speaking Spanish even as managers blabbed to relatives in Albanian on their cell phones or spoke French to Haitian stock boys.

Former salesperson Julissa Bautista, a 28-year-old from the Dominican Republic, said she was reprimanded for speaking Spanish to a South American customer who asked about a shade of red lipstick.

"No Español, No Español," manager Misa Gjonbalaj said, according to Bautista.

Bautista also said a manager intervened when she and several other employees were speaking Spanish during a break.

Does your Job tell you what to do on your Break? Mine doesn't.

Also were they fired when they merely complained about this "policy"?

Homer Fink

Move to Spain. Problem solved.

gaze

Hurtful? Fine. But c'mon EEOC: If it's a problem for them, they should find a job that doesn't require them to interface with customers all day. Sephora has every right to prohibit them from speaking anything other than English on the job. It's a matter of customer service. I doubt they enforce this in, say the employee's lounge. You can get fired for any number of reasons. If you break your company's rules, you can't complain if actions are taken.