North Texas County Employees Asked to Sign ‘English-Only Rule,' Prompting One to Quit

An Erath County employee is speaking out after she says she and the only other bilingual employee on her team were asked to sign an “English-only rule” after other employees accused them of gossiping about them in Spanish.

Veronica Cajamarca left Erath County Judge Brandon Huckabee’s office on Thursday.

“He [Huckabee] is a very sweet, educated man,” Cajamarca said. “He did apologize time and time again. However, I told him it wasn’t his apology to be given.”

The so-called “English-only rule” asked to be signed in early February stated English was to be spoken at all times while at work, with the exception of translating for a non-English speaking customer.

“English is the primary language of a majority of the employees of this office and in order to facilitate an efficient and harmonious work environment, all employees shall only speak the English language except in limited circumstances,” the rule stated. “Violation of this rule is grounds for termination.”

Cajamarca said she was hired specifically to be a bilingual clerk and regularly translated for Spanish-speaking customers.

In a statement, Huckabee clarified this week the rule is not an Erath County policy and it is not a current policy used in any other county office to his knowledge.

This policy and rollout was a decision made by Erath County tax assessor-collector Jennifer Carey after consulting with Erath County attorney Lisa Pence for use in her department, Huckabee said. He added, this was done without his consultation or that of the Commissioners Court, or Human Resources.

“This is not a policy that has ever been considered nor will ever be implemented at a County level, and I would strongly advise that no individual office issue such a policy,” Huckabee’s statement read.

Carey has not returned a request for comment as of this writing.

“I don’t feel like this was right what they did. They could have handled things very, very differently. This shouldn’t have been an issue. This shouldn’t have even been a thing that they decided to make up,” Cajamarca said. “What they did was very unjust. What they did was very unfair. I’m not going to throw a race card out of there, or anything like that. Yes, I’m proud to be Mexican. But I’m also proud to being an American.”

Cajamarca said she has put in her two-week notice. Another Spanish-speaking employee, Mary Cruz Serrano, said she is considering leaving, but she cannot leave right now.

“Financially, I do pay a lot of things on my own. I do still live with my parents, but I do pay for a lot of stuff on my own. So, I’m trying to be financially independent,” Serrano said. “It’s just very stressful to see them every day and for them to act like nothing happened.”

Cajamarca said in her opinion, the people who were involved with the “English-only rule” should be reprimanded.

Read Huckabee's full statement below or click here to read it in a new window.