Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 24, 1993 TAG: 9302240048
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BAILEYS CROSSROADS LENGTH: Medium
DOMINION TELLERS FILE BIAS ACTION
Three Spanish-speaking tellers have filed a discrimination complaint against Dominion Bank alleging they have been forbidden to speak anything but English to each other.Mayela Salvador, 20; Silvia Esther Velez, 20; and Luz Alba Long, 23, work at the bank's Baileys Crossroads branch, in an area where many residents speak Spanish.
In their complaint to the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission, the women said they were given two memos in October and November from then-branch manager Arlene Butler. One said "it was the bank's policy that everyone speak English unless it is absolutely necessary . . . to serve customers."
A spokeswoman at Dominion's headquarters in Roanoke said no such policy ever existed. "We're appalled that something like this would happen," said Brenda McDaniel, vice president for public relations. "This was an isolated incident and it is not the policy of Dominion."
McDaniel said Dominion is treating the incident as a personnel matter and Butler has been transferred from the branch. Butler could not be reached for comment.
The women have asked the commission for $5,000 each in damages and extra pay in the future for working as translators with Spanish-speaking customers.
Fred Allen, executive director of the county Human Rights Commission, would neither confirm or deny that a complaint had been filed.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has forbidden English-only workplace policies since the 1960s, said EEC spokesman Reginald Welch, based on the theory that people's primary language is part of their national heritage and to forbid them to speak their language is to discriminate based on national origin.