Senator Charles Schumer's Letter to Cari M. Dominguez Chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

May 22, 2003
The Honorable Cari M. Dominguez
Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
1801 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20507

Dear Ms. Dominguez

I congratulate you and the EEOC for your new initiative to make 19 key documents for people who have been discriminated against in the workplace available in languages other than English.

I am concerned, however, that the EEOC has not yet translated any of these documents into Greek or Polish, and has not translated 17 of the documents into Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu. Each of these is the primary language for a significant number of New Yorkers.

Additionally, I am concerned that of the approximately 2,100 US Equal Employment field staff members who work in communities nationwide doing outreach about job discrimination, there is only one who speaks Greek, one speaks Polish, one speaks Hindi, one who speaks Punjabi, and none who speaks Urdu.

I understand your agency - like much of the government - is facing budget cuts, but I ask you to work toward trying to hire anti-discrimination counselors in New York who have a familiarity with these languages.

As I am sure you agree, people who don't speak English well are often the first to be taken advantage of at work, if they even get the job they want in the first place.

The EEOC"s move to make information available to people in a language they understand is an important development, and I respectfully request that you expand it further to include Greek, Polish, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator