No Spanish on the job say DSUSD employees

Several Desert Sands Unified School District employees say speaking Spanish on the job is prohibited, even during lunch breaks.

The district is now under investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Grounds and operations employees filed the discrimination complaint.

They did not want to speak on camera for fear of losing their jobs. Instead, the group provided us with a letter detailing what they say amounts to discrimination.

The six DSUSD employees say they got disciplined for speaking Spanish on the job.

“We were harassed by our supervisor and got written up,” they wrote in the letter.

After getting what they describe as no support from their union representative and the superintendent’s office, the six employees filed an official complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The federal agency sent them a letter informing them of the decision to officially open an investigation.

The school district said it’s also investigating.

“We do not tolerate, would not put up with anyone that says you can only speak one language and they would no longer work here,” said Assistant Superintendent Sherry Johnstone.

Johnstone couldn’t comment on the investigation, but she said she’s addressing the issue.

“As soon as the complaint got to my desk I began the investigation. We cannot share employee discipline with other employees, it is a private and confidential matter,” said Johnstone.

As a result, Johnstone said the district isn’t allowed to tell anyone about any disciplinary action taken in this case, including the six employees who filed the complaint.

“We make sure everything is right and if it’s not right we fix it,” said Johnstone.

News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 did find out the supervisor in question no longer works for the district. We do not know however why this person left.