Polish cleaner sacked for speaking Polish (in Norway, on break) - Polidicks

[URL]http://www.thelocal.no/page/view/polish-cleaner-sacked-for-speaking-polish[/URL] [quote][B]A Polish cleaner has sued Telemark Hospital in south-eastern Norway after she was sacked from her job in August for speaking her native language during breaks.[/B][/quote][quote]Joanna Renclawowicz, 34, drew the ire of some of her workmates for regularly speaking Polish with colleagues in the canteen and corridors of the hospital in Skien, newspaper Dagbladet [URL="http://www.dagbladet.no/2012/09/04/nyheter/innenriks/diskriminering/sykehus/morsmal/23232721/"]reports[/URL].In a letter terminating her contract, she was told: ”You have received info that only Norwegian is to be spoken during work hours. [B]”Your colleagues and patients at the hospital have repeatedly complained of Polish being spoken in the dining room, the central cleaning department, and in corridors, etc.”[/B] Renclawowicz has now launched legal proceedings against the hospital for unlawful termination. Her lawyer, Sebastian Garstecki, has also reported the hospital to the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, noting that the government agency has previously deemed language directives of this kind to constitute discrimination. Renclawowicz explained that a handful of her co-workers at the hospital were originally from Poland, including one of her old friends from Warsaw. ”It was just strange that we were expected to speak Norwegian to each other on our breaks when we’re not that fluent. We always tried to speak Norwegian with the Norwegian employees,” she said. ”Every time the boss heard one of us speaking Polish, she said: ’Speak Norwegian!’ Her complaints came especially if it happened during lunch breaks,” Renclawowicz told Dagbladet. In January, she said, her manager even took to posting notes around the cleaners’ quarters to remind staff that: ”At work, we speak Norwegian”. The college-educated 34-year-old said she and her husband had moved to Norway four years ago to seek a better life for their family. They now have a three-year-old daughter. ”We have a child and a mortgage, so I was devastated when I got the sack,” she told Dagbladet. A spokesperson for her former employer said the hospital planned to meet with trade union representatives on Wednesday to discuss a possible resolution. Lawyer Garstecki, meanwhile, said his client’s aim was not to seek a large compensation settlement. ”She wishes to prevent others from being treated this way. We’re hoping for a constructive resolution to the dispute, but if the hospital is not willing, then the case will go to court,” he told Dagbladet.[/quote] lawl, this shit would never fly in the US. I hear spanish from the janitors all the time, even the spanish teachers talk to the janitors in spanish sometimes. Problem, Norway?

Well, as a Norwegian I would like to say that this is simply stupid and she should be given her job back.

[quote]”Every time the boss heard one of us speaking Polish, she said: ’Speak Norwegian!’ Her complaints came especially if it happened during lunch breaks,” Renclawowicz told Dagbladet.[/quote] Kurwa.

unless she was screaming everywhere, but then again she'd be sacked even if it was in norwegian

[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37633083]lawl, this shit would never fly in the US. I hear spanish from the janitors all the time, even the spanish teachers talk to the janitors in spanish sometimes. Problem, Norway?[/QUOTE] Yeah, that'll show those nords! U.S.A.: 1 Norway: 2537

[QUOTE=Paramud;37634347]Yeah, that'll show those nords! U.S.A.: 1 Norway: 2537[/QUOTE] Name all two thousand five hundred thirty seven reasons Norway is better or your point is invalid, you have five minutes.

[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37633083][B]lawl, this shit would never fly in the US. [/B] I hear spanish from the janitors all the time, even the spanish teachers talk to the janitors in spanish sometimes. [B]Problem, Norway?[/B][/QUOTE] What are you trying to do here?

[QUOTE=farmatyr;37634537]What are you trying to do here?[/QUOTE] use an example of one company being shite to try and pretend the USA isn't dominated in every way by scandinavian nations

[QUOTE=Rahkshi lord;37634402]Name all two thousand five hundred thirty seven reasons Norway is better or your point is invalid, you have five minutes.[/QUOTE] isn't 'better' a largely subjective point of view though the quality of life index ranks norway higher than the US for the most part [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-life_Index[/url]

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;37634132]Kurwa.[/QUOTE] KURWA KATYŃ FUK RUSSIA

[QUOTE=Bobie;37634871]isn't 'better' a largely subjective point of view though the quality of life index ranks norway higher than the US for the most part [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-life_Index[/url][/QUOTE] The point I was trying to make was that it's fucking stupid to take one example and act like your country is better because you've never heard of it happening there.

[QUOTE=ionuttzu;37634880]KURWA KATYŃ FUK RUSSIA[/QUOTE] you're Romanian we all can tell. [editline]11th September 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=farmatyr;37634537]What are you trying to do here?[/QUOTE] pointing out how multiculturalism [B]sometimes[/B] works better in the US. That's the entire point of the center part.

It sounds like speaking Norwegian during work hours was in the job description. It also sounds like she was told many times.

Fuck it's her time off she get her Job back

[QUOTE=Kopimi;37634832]use an example of one company being shite to try and pretend the USA isn't dominated in every way by scandinavian nations[/QUOTE] Hows about my friend we focus on the article rather than waving our dicks around while flippantly dancing about.

some people just can't take a joke [editline]11th September 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=D.W;37635849]It sounds like speaking Norwegian during work hours was in the job description. It also sounds like she was told many times.[/QUOTE] why can't you talk in your native language with your colleagues? the point is that if that was the case then that in itself is discriminatory.

[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37636225]some people just can't take a joke [editline]11th September 2012[/editline] why can't you talk in your native language with your colleagues? the point is that if that was the case then that in itself is discriminatory.[/QUOTE] So go back to your native country. This discrimination rubbish is getting out of hand.

[QUOTE=Dysgalt;37636147]Hows about my friend we focus on the article rather than waving our dicks around while flippantly dancing about.[/QUOTE] Just by this post I can tell you're not from the US. Dickwaving is kinda their thing.

[QUOTE=Ban Evader;37636414]Just by this post I can tell you're not from the US. Dickwaving is kinda their thing.[/QUOTE] Their thing. You talk to us as if we're a different race. Just where the hell are [I]you[/I] from?

[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;37636522]Their thing. You talk to us as if we're a different race. Just where the hell are [I]you[/I] from?[/QUOTE] A country that ~isn't the US~

[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37635559]pointing out how multiculturalism [B]sometimes[/B] works better in the US. That's the entire point of the center part.[/QUOTE] Yeah, and it [b]sometimes[/b] works better outside of the US. Did you post this article just to wave a U.S. flag around? Because that's how it's starting to look to me.

[QUOTE=Paramud;37634347]Yeah, that'll show those nords! U.S.A.: 1 Norway: 2537[/QUOTE] Scotland: 9999999999999 We bloody win.

[QUOTE=theevilldeadII;37636056]Fuck it's her time off she get her Job back[/QUOTE] I can't speak for Norway's labor laws, but in California, your breaks are still on-the-clock, and paid (except your meal break). Therefore, you still have to follow their rules. Can a Norwegian with a job let us know how it works over there?

[QUOTE=Moustacheman;37636673]Scotland: 9999999999999 We bloody win.[/QUOTE] scotlands not an independent state so that doesn't count also salmond extrudes slime

[QUOTE=D.W;37636370]So go back to your native country. This discrimination rubbish is getting out of hand.[/QUOTE] I think it's discriminatory for someone to get fired from their job not for not knowing the language required, which is a reasonable request for an employer to make, but for simply speaking a different language to colleagues who understand it and would likely prefer to speak in said language. And on break nonetheless! It reeks of the same kind of bullshit where people in the US complain about people speaking spanish [i]near[/i] them and want to make english the legally official language to make themselves feel better or some shit. It's unnecessary and xenophobic.

From my personal experiences it seems like there's more xenophobia in Europe than in my own country America. Maybe it's because Europe isn't composed of mostly immigrants like we are.

Sensationalist as fuck.

[QUOTE=D.W;37636370]So go back to your native country. This discrimination rubbish is getting out of hand.[/QUOTE] They have as much right to live there as you do.

[QUOTE=Paramud;37636660]Yeah, and it [b]sometimes[/b] works better outside of the US. Did you post this article just to wave a U.S. flag around? Because that's how it's starting to look to me.[/QUOTE] no, I obviously made it to bash Norway. it's obviously to discuss speaking language on the job that's different from the official language. Plus it's just stupid, it seems like the manager would've gotten pissed if she was talking to a relative on the phone in polish from the wording of the article. People should be able to speak whatever language they want on a job as long as it doesn't interfere or impede their communication with their colleagues and or customers, imo.

[QUOTE=kaine123;37637166]From my personal experiences it seems like there's more xenophobia in Europe than in my own country America. [/QUOTE] of course there's more xenophobia in Europe. Europe has had a very big complicated history of racism and xenophobia. just look at the way gypsies and jews have been treated in our history. the holocaust might have been the latest one but it definitely wasn't the first one.