Subcontractors allege they were fired for speaking Spanish. They sought help at courthouse.
A group of about two dozen tree trimmers gathered outside the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Downtown Pensacola Tuesday morning, after they said they were unfairly fired by for speaking Spanish. The crew is primarily Cuban and works for Burford’s Construction, a company from Lincoln, Alabama, that provides services in the electric utility industry.
The crew’s general foreman, Javier Casa, says they were hired in early January to clear trees around power lines from Pensacola to Panama City for Florida Power & Light under a three-year contract, but the crew was let go Tuesday with no notice. He said a supervisor for Burford’s Construction told them the language barrier was the problem.
“They said they couldn’t communicate with us and let us go,” said Casa. “It was not right. It was an excuse, not a reason. It’s discrimination.”
Casa speaks limited English, but enough to be understood. He and another crew member, Obed Pina, spoke about the demonstration outside the courthouse and said not only can they help with any language barriers between their crew and management, but that the company knew they all spoke Spanish when they hired them for the three-year contract.
“They knew from the beginning that we didn’t speak English,” Pina explained. “If language was an issue for them, they were aware of that from the beginning. It was a really unfair decision, and the decision came from somebody higher in the company and this person couldn’t come to us and explain the real reason because it sounds like an excuse.”
Burford’s Construction company director, Ryan Abernathy, pushed back against the accusation that the crew was fired unfairly. He said the business is an equal opportunity employer and they don’t discriminate for any reason.
“The employment actions taken today were for non-discriminatory business and safety reasons,” Abernathy said, but he did not elaborate.
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Most of the Cuban nationals in the crew know each other and live outside the area in cities like Miami and Houston. Some are U.S. citizens, while others have their work visas and are working toward citizenship. Many in the crew said they’ve worked together for years and have even worked for FPL before under different subcontractors.
Jasmine Havrt is one of several women on the predominantly male crew. She has been doing tree trimming work for the past six years and travelled to several other states including Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Michigan. Havrt and others said this is the first time they’ve encountered a problem like this. The work helps the 43-year-old woman support her family including her mother, grandfather, sister and 12-year-old nephew.
“Too many people need a job and it’s hard,” Havrt said, wiping away tears. “I have many American friends and they’re not like this. I think the foreman is racist.”
Grace McCaffery, owner of Latino Media Gulf Coast and an advocate for others in the Latino community, came to the demonstration to listen to the worker’s concerns. She was accompanied by Josef Mitkevicius, a bilingual attorney. Although he primarily focuses on criminal law, Mitkevicius said each week he receives calls from other Spanish-speaking immigrant workers looking for legal help for a variety of reasons including non-payment for work or other discriminatory acts. In this case, he said speaking Spanish isn’t grounds to fire someone.
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“In Florida, you can’t fire someone because they don’t speak English, unless the job requires them to speak English,” Mitkevicius explained. “They weren’t working at a call center, they were trimming trees.”
McCaffery said she, too, has been helping migrant workers for years who have been taken advantage of and she tries to help them. She said based on her work with other immigrants, she was not surprised by the tree-trimming crew’s allegations and hopes companies like FPL will take notice of how subcontractors manage their employees.
“FPL needs to be aware,” said McCaffery. “I don’t think they would want people to be treated unfairly by any subcontractor working for them.”
As for the subcontracted employees, they are not yet sure of their next steps and are considering their options. For now, they'll head home to look for more work, but don't plan to stop seeking answers to what they believe is an unlawful firing.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Cuban nationals say they were fired for speaking Spanish on Pensacola job
