Saturday, March 04, 2006
Move over Hulkster
Mike Gray is a true American - or so he thinks. Gray is a heavy equipment operator with the Arapahoe County Road and Bridge Department (read civil servant), but he runs a business on the side which has got him into hot water.Gray often drives a truck to work that indicates he is an English speaking American who is for hire to do lawn care. Plus, he often wears a hat on the job with the words "US Border Patrol."
Gray, indicated that there a lot of people in the lawn car business that are non-English speaking some people have difficulty communicating with them (i.e. Spanish speaking) and as a result he is just getting an edge in the market.
"I got a new supervisor," said Gray. "He's a politically correct, bleeding heart liberal. I believe in what I'm doing. I got to stand up for what I believe in and I don't think I'm doing a thing wrong. Of course I don't want to lose my job, but I can't back down from something I believe in. Like I say, they're just chipping away at our rights and freedoms."
The county is not impressed:
"Some of your conduct ... is reprehensible and discriminatory to our non-English speaking and/or Hispanic workforce. You are in violation of ... guidelines which ensure a workplace free from harassment and sensitive to the diversity of employees."
It will be interesting to see this case play out over the coming months.
# posted by Shaky @ 6:59 p.m. 
