30. On or about November 13, 2012, Mr. Vergara – now the sole owner and highest ranking senior executive at CHIVAS USA – called a mandatory meeting of all employees, including plaintiff MR. CHRONOPOULOS. At the meeting, Mr. Vergara intentionally humiliated all employees who were neither Mexican nor Latino. Mr. Vergara brazenly announced that all non Spanish speaking employees would be fired. He asked, publicly, for those employees who were able to speak Spanish to raise their hands (he initially asked the question in Spanish and then repeated it in English). He then asked employees who spoke English to raise their hands. After publicly
identifying those employees who did not speak Spanish, he announced that those employees who did not speak Spanish would no longer be able to work at CHIVAS USA. As he further stated, “If you don’t speak Spanish, you can go work for the Galaxy, unless you speak Chinese, which is not even a language.” Mr. Vergara’s conduct was offensive, it confirmed the existence of a hostile, intimidating, and discriminatory work environment based on national origin, ethnicity and race, and was a direct violation of CHIVAS USA’s own harassment policy.
31. CHIVAS USA’s Human Resources Manager, Cynthia Craig, who was in attendance at the November 13th meeting, was visibly offended by his comments was overheard by MR. CHRONOPOULOS and several other employees stating, in shock, “Oh boy. I can’t believe he just said that.”