What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Hawaii
I have been working in a hotel in the house keeping department for the past 10 months. Since I live in Hawaii there is a large population of Filipinos and the housekeeping department has over 200 people in it and only 5 aren't Filipino including me. Since majority of the other employees in this department know how to speak in Filipino, they do. Some I don't even hear speak any English. Many times I come in to work and find myself singled out, while everyone else is in a group talking in Filipino. I had to learn to just kind of step in and ask what's going on because I had no way of knowing what was being talked about.
A couple of the employees noticed I was struggling because of this and assured me I would be fine and fit in, they even taught me some Filipino words so I could understand a bit better. Over the hand radio there are constant blasting noises of half broken Filipino English that were almost totally incomprehensible to me over the radio. I ended up turning it off most times and not even using it because of this. I even complained that it's hard to understand what's being said on the radio.
After a couple of months and working with and range of employees I started noticing I would get comments like " how come you working here?, why don't you go to school?"; "where are you from?" "When are you going back there?" "When are you going to look for a better job?". I started feeling like they rather not have me there because I wasn't Filipino. I toughed it up and dealt with it for the time being.
Then about a month ago an incident happened, I had left my Linen cart in a specific spot the previous night when I finished work, and each Linen cart is designated a number for the floor it belongs on. When I got in the next morning, I go to look for my Linen cart and it's gone. I try asking the 3 employees working on my floor with the same duties as I but they say they don't know and just ignore me. So I start looking around, and say over the hand radio that I'm looking for a missing Linen cart. But I get no answer. No help. 45 Minutes pass and I go to the manager and tell me that I've spent 45 minutes looking for this cart and nobody helped me. He gets pissed at this, and starts going to people asking why nobody is helping me. He goes to the 3 guys I originally asked and they said they don't know but said they will help look. Then 5 minutes later one of them calls in on the radio and says they found the cart on the roof. When he brought it I could see the 3 of them snickering at me.
We all got called into the office and they got scolded for wasting time by hiding my linen cart. As we walked out I saw them looking at me talking in Filipino snickering at me. The next couple days this continued as they snickered at me as I would walk by, and be speaking in Filipino. I just couldn't take it anymore. So I went to the manager and told him those 3 guys keep staring me down and snickering at me, and speaking Filipino as I walk by. I told him I want this whole situation reported to corporate. The next couple days I kept going to him asking if he followed up but he would just say he's working on it ,and I would again explain the situation but he would just make it out like it's not that bad, like he wasn't even taking me or this situation seriously.
I called in sick most days the next couple weeks because I felt like I was going sock one of those guys in the face because they would stare at me. I became very depressed about life and work. When my manager called me in the next time I was at work he said lets talk about how you feel, I told him how I felt, I also made the mistake of saying I felt like I wanted to sock one of them, this resulted in my manager reporting that as me making a threat and I was suspended for 3 days.
They are currently bringing someone over from corporate and I'm supposed to go to a counselor at work later this week to talk about this. I feel harassed and discriminated against and no one should have to go to work and feel this way or put up with this. I feel like the people that should be helping me like the managers, aren't because they don't want to deal with a potential law suit. I don't plan on keeping this job much longer unless I can transfer to a different department, but I also don't want another to be subjected to the same type of situation.
I also suspect illegal immigrants working in this department, referred by family or friends already working in that department. I am considering contacting EEOC since there is a lack of seriousness by my managers towards this situation. Is there anything I can do legally against what has happened to me?
I have been working in a hotel in the house keeping department for the past 10 months. Since I live in Hawaii there is a large population of Filipinos and the housekeeping department has over 200 people in it and only 5 aren't Filipino including me. Since majority of the other employees in this department know how to speak in Filipino, they do. Some I don't even hear speak any English. Many times I come in to work and find myself singled out, while everyone else is in a group talking in Filipino. I had to learn to just kind of step in and ask what's going on because I had no way of knowing what was being talked about.
A couple of the employees noticed I was struggling because of this and assured me I would be fine and fit in, they even taught me some Filipino words so I could understand a bit better. Over the hand radio there are constant blasting noises of half broken Filipino English that were almost totally incomprehensible to me over the radio. I ended up turning it off most times and not even using it because of this. I even complained that it's hard to understand what's being said on the radio.
After a couple of months and working with and range of employees I started noticing I would get comments like " how come you working here?, why don't you go to school?"; "where are you from?" "When are you going back there?" "When are you going to look for a better job?". I started feeling like they rather not have me there because I wasn't Filipino. I toughed it up and dealt with it for the time being.
Then about a month ago an incident happened, I had left my Linen cart in a specific spot the previous night when I finished work, and each Linen cart is designated a number for the floor it belongs on. When I got in the next morning, I go to look for my Linen cart and it's gone. I try asking the 3 employees working on my floor with the same duties as I but they say they don't know and just ignore me. So I start looking around, and say over the hand radio that I'm looking for a missing Linen cart. But I get no answer. No help. 45 Minutes pass and I go to the manager and tell me that I've spent 45 minutes looking for this cart and nobody helped me. He gets pissed at this, and starts going to people asking why nobody is helping me. He goes to the 3 guys I originally asked and they said they don't know but said they will help look. Then 5 minutes later one of them calls in on the radio and says they found the cart on the roof. When he brought it I could see the 3 of them snickering at me.
We all got called into the office and they got scolded for wasting time by hiding my linen cart. As we walked out I saw them looking at me talking in Filipino snickering at me. The next couple days this continued as they snickered at me as I would walk by, and be speaking in Filipino. I just couldn't take it anymore. So I went to the manager and told him those 3 guys keep staring me down and snickering at me, and speaking Filipino as I walk by. I told him I want this whole situation reported to corporate. The next couple days I kept going to him asking if he followed up but he would just say he's working on it ,and I would again explain the situation but he would just make it out like it's not that bad, like he wasn't even taking me or this situation seriously.
I called in sick most days the next couple weeks because I felt like I was going sock one of those guys in the face because they would stare at me. I became very depressed about life and work. When my manager called me in the next time I was at work he said lets talk about how you feel, I told him how I felt, I also made the mistake of saying I felt like I wanted to sock one of them, this resulted in my manager reporting that as me making a threat and I was suspended for 3 days.
They are currently bringing someone over from corporate and I'm supposed to go to a counselor at work later this week to talk about this. I feel harassed and discriminated against and no one should have to go to work and feel this way or put up with this. I feel like the people that should be helping me like the managers, aren't because they don't want to deal with a potential law suit. I don't plan on keeping this job much longer unless I can transfer to a different department, but I also don't want another to be subjected to the same type of situation.
I also suspect illegal immigrants working in this department, referred by family or friends already working in that department. I am considering contacting EEOC since there is a lack of seriousness by my managers towards this situation. Is there anything I can do legally against what has happened to me?
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