Can I be denied a promotion because I’m not Spanish
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Can I be denied a promotion because I’m not Spanish
I’ve been up for a sous chef promotion
four times in the past nine months. I
was told each time to keep up what I’m
doing and I would become a salaried
employee. Every time I was up for this
promotion some minor almost made up
offense dropped me back down. Again and
again this happened. The final reason
was because I don’t speak Spanish..
But why put this same promotion in my
grasp four times inside of one year.
Now I’m being singled out as an
untrustworthy person without cause.
There’s much more to my story
Asked on January 20, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, New Jersey
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
You can be denied a promotion for almost any reason EXCEPT discrimination on the basis of race or national origin--and discrimination against someone due to the language they speak is often held to be racial or national origin discrimination, unless the employer can demonstrate a good, business-related reason for requiring knowledge of a language (for example: a business servicing the Hispanic market could justify only having customer service people who speak Spanish, so they can communicate with the customers). There does not appear to be a valid, business-related reason to require a chef to speak Spanish, so this may well be illegal discriminaton. You should contact the federal EEOC to discuss filing a discrimination complaint.
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