Believe In America.com

butterbean · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 2269

8/04/06
Complaint: Firings benefited Hispanics
2 blacks, 1 white say they were replaced

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal discrimination complaint against a Charlotte supermarket on Thursday, accusing the store of firing workers because they were not Hispanic.

In its complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, the EEOC claims that in 2004, Compare Foods fired three longtime employees -- two of whom are black and one white -- from its North Tryon Street store and replaced them with Hispanic workers.

The issue strikes at sub-surface tension between two of America's largest minority groups, as Hispanics continue to make dramatic population gains.

"As our nation undergoes demographic shifts, employers must be mindful not to target any specific group for discrimination because they prefer workers of a different race or nationality," Lynette Barnes, the EEOC's Charlotte regional attorney, said in a statement.

In an interview, Barnes said the EEOC is fielding more complaints where "non-Hispanics are claiming they lost jobs or were not hired because employers were hiring Hispanics."

Many of those include allegations that "the reason Hispanics are being brought in is because you can work them harder and pay them less," she added. "So it's almost an exploitation issue -- but I'm certainly not saying that Compare Foods did that."

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/15194878.htm