National Origin Discrimination

Juan Estenos is an immigrant from Peru. A highly qualified accountant in Peru, he was unable to find employment in this field in the USA. As is the case for many immigrants, the need for survival prompted him to apply for employment for the position of office clerk at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization’s (WHO) Federal Credit Union. In January of 2000 he was invited to an interview with PAHO’s CEO, Operations and Finance Managers.
The interview was conducted in Spanish and Juan was accepted, despite his limited English proficiency and despite the job’s expressed requirement for the need for both good English and Spanish skills. Juan excelled at work, receiving a pay increase and positive evaluation from his supervisor. Soon after this, PAHO hired a new CEO, Leonard Supchak, who was not bilingual. One of the first things he did after taking office was to fire Juan Estenos, based on his poor English skills. This came as a shock to Juan Estenos. PAHO serves a predominantly Hispanic clientele and even the employees are predominantly Latin American in origin. In September of 2000 Juan Estenos filed a National Origin Discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which found “reasonable cause to believe that violations of Title VII occurred”. Juan took this further and filed a formal complaint at the D.C. Superior Court, alleging a D.C. Human Rights Act violation. Although the Trial Court dismissed this case initially, the decision was reversed by the Appellate Court of D.C. and the case has been sent back to trial court. The Poner Law group, representing Juan Estenos has said that further proceedings are expected in Fall 2009.

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