In July 2005, the New York District Office of the EEOC brought this suit against Highland Hospital of Rochester, Inc. and related businesses in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York alleging discrimination on the basis of national origin in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the complaint alleged that the defendant discriminated against the charging parties, Hispanic employees, by maintaining an English-only/No Spanish rule and formally disciplining some of them for speaking Spanish. After some scheduling orders, the parties settled through a consent decree in May 2006.

The three-year decree, containing non-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses, required the defendant to: remove any disciplinary notices involving the use of Spanish from employees' personnel files, implement and distribute an anti-discrimination policy, provide Title VII training, report to the EEOC at specified intervals, post a notice of the decree, and pay $200,000 to be distributed among eight individuals.

Michele Marxkors - 06/29/2007


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