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Skilled
Healthcare Group, Inc., Skilled Healthcare, LLC, and other affiliated
companies, will pay up to $450,000 and provide significant remedial
relief to a class of Hispanic employees at its nursing homes and
assisted living facilities who were subject to harassment, different
terms and conditions of employment, promotion, compensation, and
treatment through the implementation of an English-only rule that was
only enforced against Hispanics.
The EEOC filed suit in 2005
against the defendant companies alleging national origin discrimination
on behalf of Hispanics under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in the
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which
approved the three-year consent decree settling the matter.
The
lawsuit arose from a charge of discrimination by a monolingual janitor,
Jose Zazueta, who was fired from defendants' Royal wood Care Center in
Torrance, Calif., for violating the company's English-only policy. By
contrast, other employees at defendants' facilities who spoke Tagalog
were not disciplined or terminated for speaking that language at work.
The
EEOC identified a total of 53 current and former Hispanic employees at
facilities in California and Texas who were subjected to disparate
treatment and harassment based on their national origin and shared
Spanish language. The EEOC alleged that some workers were prohibited
from speaking Spanish to Spanish-speaking residents of the facility, or
disciplined for speaking Spanish in the parking lot while on breaks.
Additionally, the EEOC alleged that defendants gave Hispanic employees
less desirable work than non-Hispanic counterparts, paid them less, and
promoted them less often.
As part of the, monetary relief for
class members, the consent decree provides for the employers to offer
English language classes to the 53 claimants. The three-year consent
decree also requires that employees receive annual training regarding
national origin discrimination; that defendants educate facility
residents and patients regarding the rights of the employees under
Title VII; that defendants designate an EEO monitor so that future
discrimination complaints are closely monitored; and that defendants
report annually to the EEOC regarding their employment practices.
According
to its web site, Skilled Health Care Group, Inc. operates skilled
nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and other facilities
totaling 10,100 licensed beds in California, Texas, Kansas, Missouri,
New Mexico, and Nevada, mostly in large urban or suburban markets.
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