Thread: 2 hispanic workers claim discrimination by eatery chain

Two Hispanic workers claim discrimination by eatery chain

By Judy Masterson jmasterson@scn1.com

Two area men, fired last week from their jobs at Applebee's restaurants, have filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Juan Oropeza of Round Lake Beach and Jorge Lopez of Crystal Lake accuse their former employer, Apple ILLINOIS L.L.C., with engaging in a pattern of discrimination, including restricting Mexican and or Hispanic employees to kitchen jobs, denying them promotions and paying them less in wages and benefits than non-Hispanic employees who hold the same positions.

"The discriminatory practices these employees are alleging appear to be pretty widespread," said Chris Williams, attorney for the men. "Right now, this complaint is focused only on the Illinois-based Applebee's franchise. But if the evidence warrants it as we go forward, we will ask the EEOC to investigate whether the discriminatory policies extend nation-wide."

Williams, a volunteer for the legal clinic at the Chicago Worker's Collaborative, a nonprofit that assisted the men in filing the complaint, said he expects the allegations to be verified by documentation including payroll records for all Apple Illinois employees, which will be compared for race and national origin.

Scott Corter, vice president of human resources for Apple Sauce Inc./Apple ILLINOIS L.L.C., a Kentucky-based Applebee's franchisee that operates restaurants in the Chicago area, Indiana, Ohio and Florida, issued a statement Friday claiming the company had received no communication on the matter from the fired men, the EEOC or the CWC.

"We are proud to have policies that prohibit discrimination in our restaurants, and we have a history of promoting our employees based on merit," Corter stated.

Williams said he spoke to the company last week, but was unable to get in touch with Corter.

The EEOC's Chicago District office, where the complaint was filed Wednesday, did not return a call seeking comment.

Lopez and Oropeza, both in their 30s, were longtime Applebee's employees.

Lopez began working for the company 10 years ago as a dishwasher and cook. He was promoted to kitchen manager at the Applebee's restaurant in Crystal Lake. Oropeza, also a former kitchen manager for the Applebee's at Sheridan Road and 21st Street, Zion, was employed by the company for 13 years.

"Over the years, I demonstrated my abilities and worked my way up to kitchen manager," Lopez said. "But Applebee's management makes it clear to the Hispanic kitchen managers that we should never expect to be promoted out of the kitchen, even though they regularly promote non-Hispanic kitchen managers to fill vacancies as restaurant managers."

The men were paid at an hourly rate, each earning approximately $1,500 every two weeks, according to Williams, who said the men received less not only in wages, but in health insurance, vacation and sick days than non-Hispanic employees in stores throughout the franchise. He claims they were also required to work longer hours.

The men were fired after the company allegedly received a "no-match" letter from the Social Security Administration. The letters are sent in cases of a discrepancy in a worker's Social Security number.

Martin Unzueta, CWC organizing director, said the letter "clearly states that an employer should not use it as the basis to fire or suspend an employee."

"This only happened to Jorge and Juan because they are Hispanic," Unzueta said.

Williams declined comment on whether the men are in the country legally, arguing that the men's legal status was not at issue. He also said revealing such information was against the policy of the CWC.


09/02/06

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S10902.htm

The men were fired after the company allegedly received a "no-match" letter from the Social Security Administration. The letters are sent in cases of a discrepancy in a worker's Social Security number.

THAT'S the issue......but they sure like to garble it up with the rest.

The men were fired after the company allegedly received a "no-match" letter from the Social Security Administration. The letters are sent in cases of a discrepancy in a worker's Social Security number.

Guess, you can't even fire illegals anymore! This is ridiculous....why couldn't they reconcile their SSNs? Note they had been working there for over a decade and it's just now coming up. Maybe they were starting to fear a raid. I hope they deport them, pronto.