Supervisor wants a bribe! What to do?

[JungYH]

What is the name of your state (Louisiana)?

A little background info: We are asian, my dad came to America in 70's when he was just 16, he only speaks okay English because he had to work hard labor offshore with a bunch of other defectors and never got the chance to really learn English. (and yes, he is an U.S citizen.) Info might be irrelevant to some but I just wanted to get that out there before people start bashing about how he's in America, and needs to learn English.

Anyways, so the problem is,

My dad started work for an offshore contractor company (Big American company) about 2 1/2 months ago. The company employees are mostly white and black, but there's about 30 Asian men that speaks little to no English. The supervisor (worked for the company for many years), an Asian American that speaks fluent English makes the non English speakers pay him money to keep their job. My dad said there have been an instance where the supervisor got a guy fired when he didn't pay him. And for the reason, the supervisor said it was because he didn't speak English well enough and couldn't understand other workers. That's BS b/c there are plenty with same English level that paid him to keep their jobs. (And yes, ALL of these Asian workers are over here LEGALLY. A big company like that wouldn't hire them otherwise.)

My dad thinks its ridiculous to have to pay him to work there so he pays nothing. My question is, what should we do if the guy gets my dad fired? My dad is not fluent in English but he can take directions and hold a conversation.

I think it's disgusting that the supervisor takes advantage of people like that. Most of the guys there either came to America not long ago, or they are uneducated. He takes their hard earned money that they NEED.

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (Louisiana)?

A little background info: We are asian, my dad came to America in mid 70's when he was just 16, he only speaks okay English because he had to work hard labor offshore with a bunch of other defectors and never got the chance to really learn English. (and yes, he is an U.S citizen.) Info might be irrelevant to some but I just wanted to get that out there before people start bashing about how he's in America, and needs to learn English.

Anyways, so the problem is,

My dad started work for an offshore contractor company (Big American company) about 2 1/2 months ago. The company employees are mostly white and black, but there's about 30 Asian men that speaks little to no English. The supervisor (worked for the company for many years), an Asian American that speaks fluent English makes the non English speakers pay him money to keep their job. My dad said there have been an instance where the supervisor got a guy fired when he didn't pay him. And for the reason, the supervisor said it was because he didn't speak English well enough and couldn't understand other workers. That's BS b/c there are plenty with same English level that paid him to keep their jobs. (And yes, ALL of these Asian workers are over here LEGALLY. A big company like that wouldn't hire them otherwise.)

My dad thinks its ridiculous to have to pay him to work there so he pays nothing. My question is, what should we do if the guy gets my dad fired? My dad is not fluent in English but he can take directions and hold a conversation.

I think it's disgusting that the supervisor takes advantage of people like that. Most of the guys there either came to America not long ago, or they are uneducated. He takes their hard earned money that they NEED.

What kind of proof is there?

 

[JungYH]

Well I guess there is no "concrete" evidence. What would be needed for it to be credible evidence?

So if there is no "evidence", there is nothing my father can do? Can he report this guy to someone? I don't know if he should report him upper management, seeing as how they are all buddies up there. I don't want them to tell the supervisor and then the supervisor will get the chance to cover his butt.

 

[xylene]

My dad thinks its ridiculous to have to pay him to work there so he pays nothing.

Your dad is not going to get fired.

This guy trying to pull this tong/triad shakedown BS should be axed, but really unless it comes up your dad DOES NOT have to stick his neck to see that he gets his.

If your dad is fired, he should hire a lawyer. That is the answer, because this is discrimination and criminal.

Further, not be be too cold about this, but the reality:

1) Your dad has had a long career in a difficult and dangerous industry. Is he going to retire?

2) Your father can master better english skills and enrich his life as an American and his potential to earn outside of directly laboring in the offshore oil industry. He has incredibly valuable, unique skills and he can sell his expertise without breaking a sweat. I'm telling you that is 1000% true. What he knows has great value. His ability to tell it to others could mean an AMAZING second career. Yes, it will be hard.

 

[JungYH]

Your dad is not going to get fired.

This guy trying to pull this tong/triad shakedown BS should be axed, but really unless it comes up your dad DOES NOT have to stick his neck to see that he gets his.

If your dad is fired, he should hire a lawyer. That is the answer, because this is discrimination and criminal.

Further, not be be too cold about this, but the reality:

1) Your dad has had a long career in a difficult and dangerous industry. Is he going to retire?

2) Your father can master better english skills and enrich his life as an American and his potential to earn outside of directly laboring in the offshore oil industry. He has incredibly valuable, unique skills and he can sell his expertise without breaking a sweat. I'm telling you that is 1000% true. What he knows has great value. His ability to tell it to others could mean an AMAZING second career. Yes, it will be hard.

Right. I just don't want them to give him a hard time and pick on him while he's out there. I thought of hiring a lawyer should they ever fire him but wouldn't that be really expensive? This big company probably has a team of lawyers for a lawsuit like this.

1.) Well my dad worked offshore shrimping his whole life since he got here with working 17-20 hours a day for a month, and returning on land for 3-4 days before having to return again. Even in our country with everything going on he didn't have the privilege of going to school, so though he can speak our native language, he can not write. With the BP oil spill few years ago the owner of his boat retired. He couldn't find work since. He's 59 years old and no one wants to hire him with so many new younger guys wanting to work. He can't retire now because money is really tight.

2.) He don't have skills in the offshore oil industry though. Just experience working offshore. I always say he should try learning more English but he don't have time to really do so.

Thank you for your reply. I really hope they don't give him a hard time.

 

[commentator]

I think your father needs to contact the EEOC officer of this company probably located in the HR department. I strongly think there will be one. If he does not feel he has the English skills to do this, you can do the research for him and determine who the EEOC compliance officer will be that he needs to speak with.

At this point in time, I feel that there is definite evidence that the company is allowing illegal discrimination against your father and his co-workers and that they would really like to be made aware of it. If he has not made the compnay aware of the problem and tried to resolve it before he goes further, then they can just say they had no idea, and they're off the hook.

This is exactly what EEOC regulations are designed to prohibit. He is older, he is threatened specifically because of his race and age. If he is directly employed by this oil company, they are a government contractor. They must be especially compliant with these types of regulations.

If he did the Federal wage and hour department, or even the state, they should be able to provide him with an interpreter in any language he needs. You may have to help him figure out how this situation works, but one thing I can assure you of. If you and your father make these inquiries and discuss this with higher ups, they probably are not going to call the supervisor and say, "Hey, old JungYH Sr. has called in this complaint on you and we want to check on it!" And then the supervisor fires him. That would be a very unwise thing for them to do.

In actuality, after he has made some good faith effort to resolve this with the company, if nothing has been done and serious attention has not been paid to his complaints, I think speaking to an attorney might be a real good way to go.

If your father were actually fired from this major company for refusing to pay these bribes or for talking to someone in the company to try to get this matter resolved, I don't think he'd have any problem getting an attorney to take this case on contingency.