Racist/Discrimination? Or just common sense?

[mannginger]

A friend of mine is Spanish and has pretty good command of the English Language, albeit with an accent. He is working for a company providing computer support for Linux (not entirely sure what - but basically he is a contact on a phone for people with Linux problems)

He has been in this particluar job for about 4 months, but has been doing the role for a few years. He isn't particularly happy about his current job and so is looking for a new one.

He is going through the agencies and he recently got rejected for a job which he felt ideally suited for, fully qualified etc etc, but he didn't get the job, when he asked "why not?" to the agency they hummed and haahed for a bit, before the chap said "It's because you are Spanish"

Now, is this discrimination/racism? Or is it common sense on the agency's part? He is needless to say very upset about not getting the job based on his nationality and wants to know if he could/should take things further.

Any advice/information from the PH collective would be most appreciated before he decides to go further and do anything official.

Thanks in anticipation

Phil

[plotloss]

Exclusion based on ethnic origin is illegal IIRC.

Matt.

[CarZee]

without knowing more, this does sound like discrimination.. unless the job is as Britain's representitive on the EU Fisheries Subcommittee

>> Edited by CarZee (moderator) on Wednesday 12th March 13:11

[adrian jaye]

Your mate was discrimnated purely on his country of orgin , thats is out and out racism,

discrimination can apply to sex/age/weight etc

when you dicrimnate on "orgin" its called
race discrimiantion.

ok, put it another way,
if your mate was a Pakistani, and the guy said
"well its cos your indian"

Racism, applies to everyone, black white,red or green.
dont assume that because the person is White, he can not be discrminated against racially

your mate should take them to court,

and guess what he'd win !

>> Edited by adrian jaye on Wednesday 12th March 13:40

[mannginger]

So it looks like the agency were in the wrong then - but - how does he prove it? All he has is his word on the phone call - Is it worth the bother, or will a court just say - no evidence tough luck?

[mel]

It doesn't souind like its the agency at fault here, surely if he got rejected it means he'd been for an interview etc By the sounds of it the agency were being plain speaking and honest with their feedback from the interview hence why they fealt a bit awkward saying it. I would guess there had been a conversation between the potential employer and the agency along lines of "good candidate but for a telephone support job we fealt his accent was too strong" which worded that way makes his rejection reasonible, it could also however easily translate and get passed down the line to him as "because you're spanish" which of course appears unreasonible.

What I would say is expect the agency to not only cover their own arses but those of their client by denying ever having said or being told anything so blatently discrimitory.

[agent006]

No, it's justified, i think. If his accent makes him harder to understand, then he's further down the list for a phone support job.

If he was just putting things in boxes, or programming something all day, then yes, it would be discrimination.

[joospeed]

agent006 said: No, it's justified, i think. If his accent makes him harder to understand, then he's further down the list for a phone support job.

If he was just putting things in boxes, or programming something all day, then yes, it would be discrimination.

I agree. If you're on phone support then surely it's a primary requirement to be understood (so why are they all in scotland and wales??). The ability to speak clearly and be understood is as important as on-paper credentials I would say in this instance. People play the racist card too often methinks... sometimes it really is because they weren't the best applicant.

[mannginger]

News just in - I was making assumptions before based on his current job.

The new one wasn't a telephone support job, but an onsite physical support type job.

Ah well, I don't think he can be arsed to kick up much of a fuss so he says he is going to let it lie. He's still very angry though.

Cheers for the advice/comments

Phil

[ATG]

Labour mobility is a cornerstone of the European Single Market. He is an EU citizen applying for a job in an EU country. If his nationality was the only reason he was rejected, the rejection was not legal under UK or European law.

[TheLemming]

Having worked in and run call centre operations for the last 6 years I can safely say that there are one hell of a lot of companies that dont consider a decent command of English, let alone an accent, an issue.

This is a bit of a tricky one, Im amazed that the agency actually came out and said that rather than just spouting random crap as usual... (sorry slightly jaded still from my recent job hunt!)

[MikeyT]

if your mate was a Pakistani, and the guy said
"well its cos your indian"

very good aj - did you mean it like that?

[adrian jaye]

MikeyT said:

if your mate was a Pakistani, and the guy said
"well its cos your indian"

very good aj - did you mean it like that?

ermmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,
did I take my insulin ? or did I misss it ')

[JMGS4]

TheLemming said: Having worked in and run call centre operations for the last 6 years I can safely say that there are one hell of a lot of companies that dont consider a decent command of English, let alone an accent, an issue.

This is a bit of a tricky one, Im amazed that the agency actually came out and said that rather than just spouting random crap as usual... (sorry slightly jaded still from my recent job hunt!)

What i did wonder about was the inspector in the last "Life of Grime" he couldn't even spik eeengleeesh and thats a government employeee???? WTF is going on? Ithought correct english was a prerogative to work in a government office, not automatically get a job because I'm brown/blue/yellow????

[gnomesmith]

I'm puzzled how a Brit rejecting a Spaniard can be considered racist as, based on the evidence given, both parties are of the same race. The example of Indian vs Pakistan surely falls into the same category although it is reasonable to impute a religious aspect to that instance.

Nationality and race are different but the laws are a mess so who knows the answer.