Miami-Dade County woman claims she was discriminated against because of her Spanish accent

Miami-Dade, Florida – A Miami-Dade County Public School employee was discriminated against when she applied for a full-time job because of her Spanish accent.

Miladis Barnes has been working as a custodian full-time at Carver Middle School in Coconut Grove for four years and also part-time as a security monitor for two years.

She applied for a new full-time job as a security monitor last Thursday. According to Barnes, the principal of the school denied her application because of her English language skills.

“Another person, because another person speaks perfect English and me not perfect English,” she said.

Now, Barnes’ attorney has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Verbally it was denied to her as the principal Ileana Artime told her she was unqualified for because she speaks English with a Spanish accent,” attorney Bruce Kaplan said. “And there’s absolutely no way that there’s any way that the school board can deny that there is discrimination on the face of it, and all that Miss Barnes wants to do is work.”

According to Miami-Dade school officials, “they don’t discriminate in hiring or employment practices”. They added that as of Tuesday afternoon, they hadn’t yet received a complaint from Barnes or her attorney.