YEARS back, I wrote about the legal victory and vindication of Filipina nurses who were wrongfully terminated by their employer hospital for allegedly speaking in Tagalog while on duty in the hospital. The decision favoring the nurses was grounded on the fact that these nurses spoke in Filipino during break time, and not when they were taking care of their patient.
The controversy surrounding this issue had not really stopped what advocates say is a discrimination against Filipina healthcare workers. In fact, a customer relations firm even created a training video that puts Filipina health care workers in a bad light — portraying them as chismosas speaking in Tagalog at the workplace.
But Migrant Heritage Commission Atty. Arnedo Valera, who was also the attorney who helped our Filipina nurses win their case against the hospital that terminated them for speaking in Tagalog during their break time, said that thanks to the collective efforts of different members of the Fil-Am community, CRM Learning of Carlsbad, has decided to delete a scene in its customer service training video that negatively portrayed Filipino healthcare workers.
In a press release, the Philippine Embassy likewise reported that CRM said it will also withdraw the training video from the market after the Philippine Embassy, the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) and the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC) told the company the customer service training video violated cultural sensitivities.
“We welcome the expeditious and comprehensive action taken by CRM Learning in addressing the concerns expressed by members of the Filipino Community in connection with their customer service video,” said Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr.
The CRM Learning video, entitled “It’s a Dog’s World,” showed two Filipina healthcare employees gossiping in Tagalog in front of an American patient. According to the Philippine Embassy, a Filipina nurse who took offense after seeing the video during a hospital training workshop reported it to Filipino Community leader Victoria Navarro who in turn brought it to the attention of Ambassador Cuisia.
“While we understand that it was intended as a parody, we felt that it was unfair to single out and depict Filipinos as insensitive and disrespectful employees who do not care at all about good customer service,” said Navarro, Co-Director of the Philippine Humanitarian Coalition and the immediate past president of PNAA, who actively engaged CRM Learning on this issue.
MHC Executive Director Arnedo Valera said the video not only offended Filipinos but also went against existing guidelines on the “English Only Rule” in the workplace that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission struck down as language discrimination and violative of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“This advocacy and ensuing collaborative effort, respectful and direct communication exchange make this process a good model to follow promoting respect and celebration of diversity, the hallmark of America,” said Valera who is also PNAA Foundation legal counsel.
The Philippine Embassy further said that in a letter sent to Ambassador Cuisia, Navarro and Valera, CRM Learning President Peter J. Jordan affirmed his company’s commitment to the principles of diversity.
Jordan explained that and CRM did not intend to create a scenario that is disrespectful or stereotyped Filipino employees. He said health care training professionals reviewed and critique the training videos before it was released.
Once the revised version of the video is completed, Jordan assured that all copies of the original version of the video will be withdrawn from their inventory. He said CRM will also notify all previous buyers of the video that they may exchange their copy or copies of the original version for the revised version at no charge.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
