An employee of a tax office in Erath County, Texas, submitted her resignation after denouncing that she was forced to speak only English at work, according to the NBC News station in San Antonio.
The woman, identified as
Verónica Cajamarca,
36, by local outlet Beneath The Surface News and by The Dallas Morning News, left her job as a bilingual assistant on February 9, two days after she was asked to sign a document that prohibited him from speaking Spanish in the office, according to the cited outlet.
Cajamarca explained to Beneath The Surface News that she and a coworker, identified as Marycruz Serrano, would sit together and sometimes speak Spanish in private.
Some colleagues complained to her boss, tax adviser Jennifer Carey, according to what she told the aforementioned medium.
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The woman said she was given a letter asking her to speak only in English and was required to sign it because it was the native language of most of the office workers, local station NBC News reported.
“English must be spoken at all times during work.
English is the primary language of the majority of employees in this office and, in order to facilitate an efficient and harmonious working environment, all employees will speak English only, except in limited circumstances.
Languages other than English will only be used when translating for a client who does not speak English”, can be read in the document cited by the cited media.
"Violation of this rule is grounds for dismissal
," he added.
The incident happened at an office located in Stephenville, about 65 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Erath County, Tex., has about 43,000 residents;
22% are Latino, according to the Census.
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County Judge Brandon J Huckabee apologized to the worker and said there was no justification for such a policy in place, The Dallas Morning News reported.
“This is not a policy that has ever been or will ever be implemented at the county level, and I strongly advise that no office issue such a policy,” Huckabee said.
“It was disconcerting
,” Cajamarca told Beneath The Surface, “I asked him why he had hired me because I was bilingual if I couldn't speak it and he just shrugged it off.”
Neither Cajamarca nor his partner signed the document and, two days later, Cajamarca submitted his resignation;
she had been a county employee since October 2021, according to the aforementioned outlet.
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Cajamarca explained that she felt hurt by what happened.
“I applied for the job because they needed a bilingual employee and I was looking for a better opportunity for myself.
This was a really big slap in the face;
I felt really hurt by it.
Never in my professional years have they treated me like this, ”she explained to the local media.
David Donatti, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Texas, said the law Cajamarca was asked to sign is
illegal, discriminatory and unconstitutional,
The Dallas Morning News reports.
Donatti called the language in the document a "blanket prohibition" and said it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, (which prohibits discrimination against employees based on their place of origin, including those who speak languages other than English).
Also, because the employer is a government agency, Donatti believes the rule violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment by favoring people of one national origin or language group.
