2 New Mexico workers allege Whole Foods suspended them for speaking Spanish

[TexasTowelie]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two employees at a Whole Foods Market store in Albuquerque say they were suspended last month after complaining about being told they couldn't speak Spanish to each other while on the job — a claim the company says was a misunderstanding.

Bryan Baldizan told The Associated Press he and a female employee were suspended for a day after they wrote a letter following a meeting with a manager who told them Spanish was not allowed during work hours.

"I couldn't believe it," said Baldizan, who works in the store's food preparation department. "All we did was say we didn't believe the policy was fair. We only talk Spanish to each other about personal stuff, not work."

He said Whole Foods officials told them about company policy and issued the suspensions.

More at http://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/20130606-2-new-mexico-workers-allege-whole-foods-suspended-them-for-speaking-spanish.ece .

[SheilaT]

1. They're in Albuquerque.

Are they supposed to speak only English the the customers who come in the store and only speak Spanish?

Things like this are so idiotic. I likewise live in New Mexico, Santa Fe, and while my Spanish isn't very good, I'm quite grateful for the co-workers who do speak it well.

In the 1970's a co-worker and I used to speak French to each other. We chatted about very trivial things, but it was quite hilarious how our co-workers would sometimes be bothered by this, apparently thinking we were talking about them. No. We were mostly working on the plot of our would-be opera, "Le Petit Gros Lapin de Paque de Burmanie". The Little Easter Bunny of Burma. Really.