San Jose, CAAustin was recently terminated from a fuel delivery company; he is certain the reason was racial - he was the only white employee, everyone else was Hispanic. No matter who you are, racial discrimination is a violation of the California Labor Law.
"All of our work was supposed to be a team effort - t was company policy," says Austin, but the team didn't include him. "Every time I had a problem, such as running out of fuel, not getting somewhere on time, or a problem with the truck, no one helped me in any way. But they constantly helped each other and they expected me to help them.
"When I was first hired, everyone joined a pool - they bet on when I was going to quit. They gave me two days, then a week, then a month. They either called me 'whiteboy' or 'puta' and constantly said disrespectful things about me in Spanish, thinking I don't know what it means. [Puta literally means 'whore' in Spanish.]
"Here's another issue: Anytime there was a fuel spill, the boss told us to clean it up and it was kept quiet. But anytime I caused a spill, I would have to write up the legal form, which is fine, but everyone should have to fill out the form and sign - it's the law.
"The drivers always said I couldn't work as hard as a Mexican. I wasn't part of their clique because I wasn't Mexican and I was reminded of that daily. But I was a hard worker and never had any complaints; I was sent on all the new jobs because I was a good worker. About two months ago I told my boss, who is also Hispanic, about all these discriminatory slurs and that I was going above his head if nothing could be done about it. 'That would just cause problems for yourself and get yourself into more trouble,' he said.
"I was also given the lousiest truck to drive. After a while I wasn't the new guy anymore, which meant that I would get a better, newer truck. But the new Hispanic guy got the good truck and I stayed in the old beater. These older trucks cause more spills and the motor often gives out, creating a big problem with 10 fuel stops a day. By the fifth stop I would invariably have something go wrong, more spills, holes in hoses, all kinds of issues. And that is what I was terminated for: a hose popped and gallons of fuel leaked; I was fired for a hole in the hose that I had no control over. Every time I had a spill it was due to a mechanical error, but I'm not a mechanic (the mechanic is also Mexican and he never worked on my truck).
"I believe that I was fired because I'm white, for not being Mexican. When I worked really hard, my boss complimented me by saying, 'You work like a Mexican,' and times when I wasn't so busy my supervisor said, 'Every white guy I've hired has given up on this job.'
"I doubt this company will hire a white guy anytime soon and that is wrong. Mexican guys have this idea that white guys don't work as hard, and that's just not true. A lot of places have more Mexican guys working than white guys because the employer sometimes pays them below minimum wage, and that is also a California labor law violation. This economic mess has hurt all of us, no matter the color of your skin. But I shouldn't have lost my job because of racial discrimination."