Two Spanish-speaking women in their 50s say they experienced discrimination and retaliation while working at the South Valley Care Center, a nursing home where they were on the housekeeping staff. María Nevarez and María Perez, both immigrants from Mexico, announced Wednesday that two federal agencies are looking into their allegations.
The duo, who joined together as Las Marias Workers’ Committee, filed claims with the National Labor Relations Board and Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission last month. The immigrant rights group El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos is supporting them in understanding their rights and navigating the process.
The two allege the care center gave younger, English-speaking employees preferential treatment — limiting their access to materials, resources and opportunities.
Behind a banner that read “Somos Esenciales” — or “we are essential” in English — referring to their designation as workers in the pandemic, Nevarez described her experience working in the center’s laundry room.
“These discriminatory attitudes created a toxic work environment in which we were constantly yelled at, insulted, and retaliated against with the constant threat of being fired,” Nevarez said through interpreter Marian Méndez-Cera of El Centro. “This threat eventually became a reality.”
Both women were fired last August. While Perez had been hired only six months prior, according to El Centro, Nevarez had been there nearly a decade.
“This harassment has a profound emotional impact on both María Perez and me, leading us to experience anxiety and panic attacks on various occasions,” Nevarez said through an interpreter, becoming tearful.
Las Marias said the federal agencies have taken up their cases and are investigating.
The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is helping guide the pair in the filing process. Attorney Felipe Guevara said if the EEOC finds discrimination took place, employees can be entitled to lost wages or their jobs back, and employers may have to undergo training to improve policies and practices.
“It really depends on what the individuals who made the charge would like to see in that situation to remedy the discrimination,” he said.
The South Valley Care Center and its owner Hunter Greene declined to comment on the allegations.
