Working abroad isn't a lark

At first blush, one just shrugged his shoulders while coming across a news item that four Filipina nurses had been sacked in April from their employment in a Baltimore hospital, for speaking Tagalog while on duty. Obviously, it's a trivial cause for dismissal which could have been nipped by a warning or reprimand.

It appears though that it's hospital policy that "English is the principal language and must be the exclusive language spoken and written by all employees while on duty in the emergency department". The dismissed nurses, however, only admitted speaking Tagalog during breaks in their nurses' station, not in front of patients or while providing patients' care.

In hindsight, perhaps the four nurses could have been uninhibited or speaking their native tongue in such openly vociferous manner, despite the hospital's prohibitive policy. At any rate, assisted by an obviously Filipino lawyer, they are suing the Bon Secours Health System before the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for illegal and without due process dismissal in violation of the US Civil Rights Act.

Through counsel, the four Pinays have banked on previous rulings of the EEOC that the cited language policy to be "burdensome as a condition for employment because it creates a disparate treatment which leads to discriminatory practice". Should probable cause be found by the EEOC, it would issue a "right to sue" with the proper district court for punitive damages of up to $500,000 for the four complainants.

That this employment conflict could have been avoided, is the core of the issue. While it could be argued that the hospital policy on "only English language" while at the work station seems discriminatory on the employees' civil rights, the latter have been so forewarned by such written policy.

Indeed, the variance in policies or regulations and cultures in foreign climes with ours is one of the warning signs that Filipinos working abroad have to deal seriously and comply with. Or else, should they find them to be difficult to follow as discriminatory, or outright aberrations, they ought to have skirted therefrom at the start.

Let it be a grim reminder for dependents at home that their loved ones working abroad for dollars, or other denominations higher than the Philippine peso, that working overseas is not a picnic, or a walk in the park. And so, every dollar they receive at home is the hard earning of their kin abroad through sweat, tears, honor perhaps, and even their lives.

Coming back to the four beleaguered "kababayan" nurses, there appears a silver lining in their complaint before the administrative judge of the Maryland Department of Labor in Virginia, USA, viz: Nurse Corina Yap is eligible for "jobless benefits" for being fired for grave misconduct"; Nurses Anna Rosales and Hachelle Natano, and employee Jazziel Granada can sue the Bon Secours in damages for sacking them for speaking Tagalog during work breaks which Administrative Judge Stuart Breslow found that "any lapse on the part of the nurses were accidental".

Hopefully, the complaint for damages by the nurses will be sustained by the proper district court. Hopefully also, as they may seek employments in other hospitals, they will not be potential victims of discrimination, or the worst, being "black-listed", by prospective employers arising from their prior experience with Bon Secours Health System in Baltimore.

On deeper reflection, their sad experience with the "English language only" policy at the workplace, isn't beyond forgetting though it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. There are a lot more serious cases of OFWs now incarcerated in foreign jails, virtual victims of circumstances in their pursuit of greener pasture. In fact, three of them are awaiting execution in Saudi Arabia for allegedly killing a fellow Filipino, and perhaps more in other climes, suffering proof that theirs isn't just a lark.

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