In Great Britain, the Latvian woman defended in court the right to speak her native language at work. Writes about this Metro.
It is reported that earlier the British producer of nuts and dried fruits Humdinger Limited fired its employee Albina Sokolova for speaking in Russian with her colleagues at the plant. Despite the fact that the employee does not speak English well, the employer obliged her to contact other employees during working hours exclusively on it. In addition, she was also denied the services of an interpreter during meetings with her superiors.
The British court considered that the language policy established at the factory was “necessary”. At the same time, he called “unjustified” the requirement to use only English by employees during the consideration of disciplinary issues and complaints with superiors.
The court found Sokolova's dismissal unfair and ordered Humdinger Limited to pay the Latvian woman 10.8 thousand pounds (more than 1.1 million rubles) in compensation for insulting feelings and indirect racial discrimination.
Earlier, the President of Latvia, Egils Levits, called the Russian language a relic of the occupation, the spread of which “must be stopped.” He stated that most Latvians face discrimination in the labor market due to their ignorance of Russian, and predicted that it would be replaced by the English language in the country.
