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Filipino Nurses, Staff Say English-Only Rule Targets Them

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of hospital workers in California have sued their employer alleging they were the sole ethnic group targeted by an English-only rule.

Fifty-two nurses and medical staff filed the complaint Tuesday in federal court in Kern County. They accuse Delano Regional Medical Center of discriminating against Filipino workers for speaking Tagalog and other Filipino languages while letting other staffers speak Spanish and Hindi.

The plaintiffs are seeking to joint an August complaint filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over the hospital's enforcement of a rule requiring workers to speak English.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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