Possible Cultural Discrimination At Work
I work for one of the big bank’s call center, we are divided into English and Spanish customers, I work in Sales assisting Spanish Customers. We receive quarterly incentives/bonus based on our performance, etc. Something that was added this year was a Customer Survey Satisfaction, for some reason the company decided that for Spanish sales the threshold should be higher than the English bankers, by a 13.3% higher to be specific. As far as I can tell they have given no logical explanation for this, a customer is a customer and if they are satisfied the language or culture should not matter in terms of rating. In a scale of 1 to 5 is the same in any language. There have been some concerns that they might be some discrimination going on in this sense.
Please I need help with this matter ASAP. What can be done?
Actually it not only affects our bonuses, but also our raises, schedules, and ultimately, yes we could be terminated for not meeting those thresholds. The catch is that we have no way to dispute or be coached to improve.
Find A Lawyer Are you dealing with discrimination, harassment, retaliation, work injuries, wrongful termination or other problems at work that you know are wrong and need them to stop? Click here to search LegalMatch. Act now to get a consultation with qualified employment law attorney in your area before it's too late to file a claim.
2 Responses to Possible Cultural Discrimination At Work
Leave a Reply
The first thing I would do is study your employee handbook. It sounds to me like there could be disparate treatment between the English and Spanish groups, hiding behind “sales quotas”. Like you said, a customer is a customer and it shouldn’t depend upon the language or culture.
How are these surveys taken? Is there something that makes them less accessible to Spanish customers than the English ones?
You should document all of this stuff. Click here to find out how to document problems at work. I would get a consultation from an employment attorney, too.
I am not a lawyer and most things I say are probably completely stupid. However, to me this surely sounds like discrimination. For example, are many more people in the Spanish department Hispanic themselves? Are you Hispanic? Consult with an employment lawyer (possibly someone who will give you a free consult).