Thread: Two (illegal?!) hispanic workers claim discrimination

I've been away for 3 days so I apologize if this was posted. The odd thing I wanted to mention is that the part I have in red DID not appear in the actual newspaper -I'm looking at the article right now. Note; this was in my local newspaper.

I also wanted to ask that if anyone wanted to send off a quick email of support to Applebees that would be great. More companies need to do the SSN check.

http://www.applebees.com/
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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

Had to add this too. The new feature of our local paper 'Talk of the Conty' continues to have excellent comments about illegal immigration. It is a page in the paper that includes comments that people call or email in. Here is a sample from today. Suggest this for your paper -another way to get the message across!

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S10904.htm
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Citizenship rights


This is in response to these Mexican/Hispanic illegal people who actually believe they have citizenship rights. Even if you are a legal citizen, your mere existence shouldn't interfere with the normal livelihood of American citizens. Trust me, this has nothing to do with race. I am black and very upset with government because I struggled to pay my way through five years of college to get a nursing degree. Well, two years ago I couldn't get a job as nurse at the Lake County Health Department because I wasn't bilingual? Why do I have to be? Just because the Hispanics have bombarded this county doesn't mean I shouldn't get a job I'm qualified for. And no, there shouldn't be signs in Lake County public displayed in Spanish. What a shame. Illegal immigrants and legal aliens alike, it's time to adapt — you are in America. Learn the language and stop slowing our public schools down because your child can't communicate. Adapt or face deportation; speak your language and work in your own country.
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Facts are facts


To the Hispanic person complaining about the whites crying over Hispanic signs and that you're here to stay. Well, here's a few more facts everyone legal can cry over from the PEW Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C.: Hispanics are three times more likely than non-Hispanics to receive welfare and account for three-fourths of the increase in poverty in the USA. Hispanic teen birth rate is twice the national rate of all teens. 45 percent of Hispanic children are born out of wedlock. These rates continue even though Hispanic women are 2.54 times more likely than white women to have abortions. Hispanic men are nine times more likely than white men to beat their partners. Hispanics are three times more likely than whites to die of AIDS, and four times more likely to die of tuberculosis. Hispanics are two times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Hispanics. They are 3.8 times more likely to be in prison for murder than non-Hispanics. Hispanic youth are 19 times more likely to be in gangs. Hispanics are three times more likely than non-Hispanics to drop out of high school. Fifty-five percent of Mexican-Americans consider themselves to be Mexican first. This is leaving out all the categories showing the drain on every social program in this country. And you wonder why everyone is crying? After the U.S. becomes just another Third World country, I wonder if you will still stay!

And finally...this appeared in the paper today. This reporter keeps printing pro-(illegal) immigrant/hispanic articles. Can anyone guess what percentage of this 30% are illegal aliens?

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Latinos own 30 percent of new Waukegan businesses

By Ryan Pagelow Rpagelow@scn1.com

WAUKEGAN — More immigrants and their children are opening their own small businesses in Waukegan to get a piece of the American dream.

Last year in Waukegan, about 30 percent of the new businesses opened were Latino, said Larry Schutz, license administrator for the city who has kept track of the number of new business starts during the last few years.

"They're mostly small businesses — a few restaurants, gift shops and home businesses," he said.

Those operating out of their home include landscapers that use their residences as offices, and Internet and mail-order businesses.

So far, about 27 percent of the 139 business applying for new licenses with the city this year are Latino owned. Latinos are 45 percent of the Waukegan population according to the 2000 Census.

Mireya Gomez opened a small store in Waukegan two years ago which caters mostly to Hispanics by selling clothes and gifts for baptisms, communions, quinceaños and baby showers.

Originally from Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico, she immigrated to Waukegan eight years ago and worked in a factory in Round Lake for four years.

Using her husband's experience of operating stores in Mexico, she opened the store to spend more time with her 6-year-old daughter who she can watch while at the store.

But she admits owning her own business means she has to work longer hours.

"You have to be here seven days a week all day," Gomez said. "There is a lot of competition."


09/04/06

These articles bring out the sense of entitlement these illegal lawbreaking invaders think they deserve.Since they have gotten by with breaking our laws at will through document fraud,unauthorized entry,etc.,they think (with adquate reason) that they are completely above the law.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for a few of these criminals to sue their enabling employers and even win large settlements so these open borders employers can see how cheap their illegal labor really is.

Taxpayers already know the cost of subsidizing illegals through increased healthcare,insurance,medicaid,housing subsidies,etc. which is fraululently obtained by these illegals and their families.

Illegals also get much more back much more than they ever pretend to pay into the income tax system.They have the ability to file income tax returns even without legitimate social security cards by using "tax numbers" that the I.R.S. allows them to obtain.I wonder how many of them claim the earned income credit and child tax credit available to low income earners?Are we so naive as to think that that tax preparers wouldn't encourage these criminals to take advantage of existing deductions?

So what if most of their families are in Mexico.What would prevent them from claiming them as deductions?

Therefore theillegals suing employers for discrimination rights that they don't have is not a surprise.I guess they think that when one law is broken without consequences why worry that they are in our country illegally,working illegally, and have no right to claim anything.

If they are here legally, then IMHO they have every right to file a suit. Chances are very good they are not.

I am in constant disbelief that our government allows illegals to live and work in our country like they do. They are everywhere around me here in NC and they place a burden on our infrastructure and quality of life. We know who they are... and no one (with authority) will do anything about it. It's all about money and greed.

We could round up half of the illegal population in one day by throwing a national yard sale...

yea why didnt they promote them out of the kitchen to waiter and let them work for tips

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."

Wow, how one sided can a story get? The author of this article would have us believe that Applebee's didn't give these two Hispanic gentleman the chance to correct the social security number descripancy. I think this is a clear case of "we the public" getting a biased view of the story from a left-wing rag. A company not participating in a focused drawdown just doesn't fire an employee that has been with them for 10 years without cause.

Also, note that the CWC organizing director said the letter (Social Security Administration) clearly states that an employer should not use it as the basis to fire or suspend an employee. Well, I would suggest that the letter does give the company a reason to pursue further investigations into the "why" of the situation. It was the fired mens responsibility to prove there was an error, obviously they couldn't do that. What exactly do they expect Applebee's to do, ignore the letter and the fact that two of its employees can't prove they are American citizens. I don't think so, because that would put them in violation of the law.

From the initial reading of this article, it would appear as if Applebee's has done everything right, but one question does remain. How come this has just now became an issue - these two jokers have been working there for years. Perhaps the fear of prosecution and general public sentiment is starting to pressure businesses.

One last thing, perhaps many of these folks never get out of the kitchen because they can't speak English.

Quote:
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."

If they don't match and they are here illegally....what MORE reason does a company need to dismiss a person? They can get fined if they don't.

I was a supervisor for "Friendly's". We had to know and do ALL parts of the job. You didn't graduate from the kitchen to supervisor anymore than you graduated from waitress to supervisor. I had to do EVERY job well. Cook, wash dishes, waitress, cashier, order, balance books and everything inbetween. Plus you had to have a personality to deal with the public. Some people just don't. If their English was as proficent as most, that could be a reason they didn't get promoted. You have to know when and how to step in to help and not break the flow. It's more than how many years you worked and what color you are.

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.

Busted

Well, if we had any law enforcement.

Love It!!! Hats off to Applebee's. ...no, just because the names are Juan and Jorge, doesn't mean the Social Security Office treats them any differently. If the name doesn't match the number, then letters get sent...to bad the illegals have to think that way. Oh well, two more for the deportation flight! See ya!