http://www.wsvn.com/extra/helpmehoward/archives/view_story.html?storyid=20020501-182618
Is this what we are coming to?
“Fired because she was transferring calls improperly”
Is Florida a right-to-work state? That sounds just like some of the horror stories I’ve heard about Utah’s employer privileges…
She was -obviously- fired because she was white, but as long as her boss can pull some horsecrap outta her ass to justify canning her for another reason, she’s all well and good. 
I hope that office is investigated.
She worked for the State of Florida. I don’t think that even in right-to-work states that the right-to-work rules apply to the state itself. I can’t imagine that Florida doesn’t have a non-discrimination policy based on race that this woman could use as grounds for a suit.
jayjay
The article mentions her as the only “Anglo” in the county. Last name: Wilensky. I guess Poland was part of the British Isles before the continents drifted apart.
I thought about that too, Tony. 
Then again, maybe her husband is of Polish descent, or maybe the just meant to imply she was “English-speaking”?
In any case, this is absolutely outrageous. What I am sort of worried about are all the misspellings in the news article. Seems like Fox needs to fire some people for not speaking English!
I wonder if she’s the same Zita Wilensky you get when you do Google. She’s apparantly into cooking. Hmmm.
Harrassed then fired. One would imagine she would have an easy time finding a sympathetic jury.
In the region I live in is is perfectly acceptable (legally anyway) to advertise jobs to race, gender, age and personal “attractiveness.” And these aren’t modelling or acting jobs - we’re talking secretaries, accountants, lawyers, business people.
One goverment organisation actually pays people how much they think they need to earn, not how much their skills/experience/job title deserve. One woman is paid a pittance because “she has a rich father, she lives at home, she doesn’t need to work.” Another woman had her salary CUT when she got married because “her husband is rich, she has more money now.”
It’s obvious that she has alleged that.
Are we going to take her account as the whole truth? I don’t think we can do that yet.
I don’t think asking an employee to learn some spanish in Dade county is at all unreasonable. (60 days to learn it IS unreasonable, though. Still, the story did not confirm that as fact)
I don’t think we have the whole story yet.
In Dade County? She would have a tough time finding a jury that spoke English themselves!
Reason #3,673,192 I’m not gonna miss this freak show when I leave. (To be fair, there ARE a lot of reasons I WILL miss it, but that’s not the point.)
I don’t get the problem. If speaking Spanish is a requirement of the job, and she was unable to fulfill the requirement, then what’s the problem?
There’s plenty of jobs that require foreign language skills; this apparently is one of them. If her inability to speak Spanish hindered her ability to do her job, then her employer, IMHO, has every right to dismiss her.
I just enjoyed how poorly the article was written. I like how they threw in that she was a victim of discrimination apropos of nothing before they even started talking about it. If this case is true, it’s a shame for the woman, but it almost seemed like it was some propoganda of some sort, written by someone who was not exactly talented at writing.
I agree with spooje. The article, in fine journalistic style, only presents Zita and her lawyer’s side of the story.
And what in the world does this mean:
“Problems don’t discriminate - so race to the phone. We’ll have an answer clear in any language.” Does this mean we should call this news station speaking Greek?
Folks, this is the “If it bleeds, it leads” station here in Miami, WSVN 7 News, and the “Help Me Howard” sections caters to the lowest common denominator. Really overblown news stories, shocking camera angles, Geraldo News at it’s worst. Grammar and style are not on their list of requirements.
Speaking Spanish is NOT a requirement of this county job, since English is the official language of the Florida government. It sure as hell would come in handy, like every freakin day, but is not required.
DAMN
That article was ridiculously bad. Regarding the concept, however, I think the article is correct that if she goes to court, she will win. Not just because she’s white, but because that’s the kind of issue juries love to jerk their collective knees over.
So the “One would imagine …” is true. One, me! Maybe if she made them that carrot cake.
If its not a requirement, then I will concede. I am terrible at legal matters, but I assume the government employs translators, yes? Well, speaking Spanish would be a requirement for this job, no?
Why can’t the county decide that speaking Spanish is a requirement for a job that deals heavily in Spanish speakers?
As it stands, I don’t think asking her to learn Spanish was unreasonable. What I DO find unreasonable is that she worked for the County for 16 years and was asked suddenly to learn Spanish. In 60 days no less. That’s a bit odd.