Legal Question in Discrimination Law in Wisconsin
Discriminatory Hiring
I was refused a Teacher's Assistant job at a major state univerisity because I am not Japanese (they side-step the discrimination issue with "you are not a native speaker of Japanese). I am a Japanese translator and my language proficiency is far beyond what would be required for a teacher.
I have both teaching certification and experience, neither of which is possessed by the other Japanese applicants who were hired. A former non-Japanese professor of the same department says that the Japanese department openly admits that it doesn't want to work with non-Japanese. I (and other non-japanese applicants) have been discouraged from even applying. My qualification for teaching and Japanese proficiency are FAR beyond what is required for job, and it's unfair that they should hire only unqualified native Japanese.
I have emails from the department, statements from former professors and applicants all clearly indicating, openly admitting discrimination.
The other foreign language departments at the same university don't stick to native speaker TAs like the Japanese department, even the ESL department hires non-natives speakers.
I have much more to say to strengthen the case, but I want to keep it short.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Discriminatory Hiring
While I offer no legal opinion on the limited facts you presesnt, it sure counds like you have a case. You are in essence describing "reverse discrimination" by the staff in charge of hiring , under the control of the university. these are tough cases, but you describe what seems to be a pretextual motive in the refusal to hire you. Go to the EEOC and file your charge promptly and get local legal counsel, someone whose practice is discrimination. GOOD LUCK
Re: Discriminatory????? NON-Hiring
Let me play devil's advocate.
You haven't mentioned several important factors which the university will
employ in defending itself should you sue: the first two are
your accent and your psychological make-up,
both critical when speaking
Japanese. My understanding is that chauvinism pervades the language in a way that no USA English-speaking person in our so-called
modern society could contemplate.
The third, your experience. Where have you been
employed as a translator?
The fourth, the proficiency tests.
Who wrote the test? What are the criteria used
in scoring?
CAVEAT: Don't sue unless you want to risk getting
on a "blacklist" relied upon by others in the
translation or teaching fields. You're speaking of
very small communities and news gets around. You don't need to earn a reputation as being litigious.
Just move on and try to get a job elsewhere in your chosen profession.
If that proves fruitless, then you can reconsider whether
either suit is reasonable or possible or another profession is possible.
Out of curiosity, what motivated you to become a translator and teacher
of Japanese when there were so many native
Japanese speakers in the marketplace?
In any case, I wish you good luck.
Barbara C. Johnson, http://falseallegations.com
Re: Discriminatory Hiring
I DO NOT KNOW. But I'll give you a guess.
I think the federal discrim laws apply only to 'protected' groups,
and white anglos like yourself (right?) are not in the list prescribed
by the law.
But there's been a backlash against reverse discrimination lately and the law
may have gotten updated. Your case is
really a classic example. Call a local lawyer and see if they'll take the case
for you on a contingency basis.
Good luck.
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