There are many personal stories I can relate to but I chose to tell one I have witnessed. Couple weeks ago my friend got hurt at work therefore had to fill some LNI paperwork. My friend's primary language is Spanish but is becoming more fluent in English. When she called to talk to the HR office about her case, the lady told her she had a very strong accent and she could not understand her therefore she had to call back later because she had to find an interpreter. My friend felt offended by her words. When she tried to call back to talk to the lady, her calls were being ignored, she did not get any calls back neither. Last week, I offered to help her so we went over to the HR office, the lady was talking to us like we did not understand English, her tone was slow. She told my friend, to write what had happened to see if they consider to pay for her injuries. I don;t quite understand what and how it works when you get hurt at work nor what are your rights, but I know I will informed myself so my friend gets the help she deserves.
This experience is making me feel very marginalized in some way and my friend felt discriminated because of her accent. It raised many questions of why would this people treat us like that, instead of helping us understand the process of what happens when an employee gets hurt at the job?I also asked my self does this happen to everybody or is there some type of discrimination going on towards my friend? There can be many assumptions but deep inside of me, I felt the drive to help my friend until she gets what she deserves.
It is unfortunate cases like these happen day in and day out, when will it stop? We don't know. I know something which I believe is true: One person at a time.
That happens more than you believe. I teach in a school district that has their primary language Spanish. It does take a lot of time and patience to understand a language that you are not used too, but there should never be anyone that is discriminated against because of their accent. It is great that you share this story because it is a common story and situation around the world.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was the director of an early childhood program, I was part of the human resources department. I learned at team meetings that in any organization the humans are the company's greatest resource. When the HR department treated their employee in such a disrespectful way they were waring down their resource rather then building it up. HR departments are there to help. Sounds like this woman was in the wrong job or could use some coaching.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Betsy, she really does. Not really know why they keep people like that in work places
ReplyDeleteAna, That is a complete disgrace for someone in a professional position such as the HR representative to dismiss your coworker because of a language barrier. It would be better for the company to hire someone that would understand the situations instead of passing judgement on others who may speak a different language.
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