In April 1981, at the age of 60, Manuel Fragante emigrated from the
Philippines to Hawaii. While Fragante speaks a number of the languages
of the Philippines, his entire education had been conducted in English,
including his university degree in law. For most of his adult life he was in
the military; as a younger man he volunteered to serve on the American
side in the Vietnam War. He continued his military training in the U.S. at
various army installations and military schools, and his grades and
evaluations were consistently excellent.
His daughter had settled in Hawai’i, and so Fragante moved, took up
residence and eventually became a naturalized citizen. Because he wanted
to stay busy and supplement his income, he began to look for work.
In late 1981 he replied to a newspaper ad and applied for an open entry
level Civil Service Clerk position with the City of Honolulu’s Division of
Motor Vehicles and Licensing. Clerks at this level handle filing, process
mail, act as cashier, provide information, and order supplies. Of the 721
applicants who took the written civil service examination, Fragante scored
first in subjects that included vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. This
ranking assured that he would move forward in the interview process.
A subset of the original applicants came in for an oral interview with
two administrators. During the interview, the assistant licensing
administrator repeatedly underscored the chaotic atmosphere of the DMV,
how demanding the public could be, and how important communication
was.
Both interviewers gave Fragante a negative evaluation, noting his very
heavy accent. He was not offered employment. Later they would testify
that they found Fragante hard to understand, and that his accent was the
only reason he had been declined.
Fragante pursued administrative remedies without success, and then
filed a claim under Title VII against the City and County of Honolulu. His
complaint alleged that he had been discriminated against because of his
accent. In a letter to his attorney, he expressed his surprise and outrage:
I have traveled to Europe and South America and managed to
communicate effectively in English with strangers who hardly spoke
the tongue. How, then, could certain English-speaking interviewers of
the City government claim, or pretend, I could not be understood?!