Friday, February 7, 2025

Court rules against dismissed employee over swastika tattoo

The Supreme Court has refused to grant constitutional protection to a man who demanded compensation from a former employer who fired him for displaying a swastika tattoo.

The court voted unanimously on Wednesday to uphold the ruling of presiding judge Norma Piña Hernández, who determined that in today’s cultural environment, the swastika “represents [anti-Semitic] hate speech.”

Court documents state that the man’s coworkers, the majority of them Jewish, “felt offended, attacked or abused” from his first day on the job.

Also Jewish, the man’s boss stated he had “clearly defined convictions on the issue.”

The company had asked the man to cover or remove the tattoo in order to keep his job as invoice manager, but he refused.

“His contract was terminated, with severance, for which the complainant signed the respective resignation and settlement,” court documents indicated.

The man immediately filed a lawsuit against the company for moral damages, with the argument that he had been the victim of discrimination.

He claimed it had affected “legal assets of his personality,” having caused “inconvenience, confusion, annoyance and generally hurt his feelings.”

The company maintained that the Nazi symbol “represented anti-Semitic expression that signified hate and defeat for the Jewish community, and that such an image affected the dignity of the company’s employees and managers who belong to that community.”

Judge Piña ruled in favor of the company, rejecting the discrimination argument, calling the swastika an “apologia of hate.”

“The measures taken by the company in the name of human dignity and the security of its employees and managers were valid, reasonable and proportional,” read her ruling. “As such, they cannot constitute an act of discrimination against the complainant. Therefore, they do not define a legal right to compensation for moral damages.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

Facade of the Bank of Mexico

Bank of Mexico cuts interest rate to 9.5%

2
With a vote of 4-1, the central bank lowered Mexico's benchmark interest rate half a point, after five quarter-point cuts in 2024.
A calf with an ear tag stands in a field of cattle, like those waiting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border after a screwworm infection shut down exports for three months

Mexico resumes cattle exports to U.S. after screwworm scare

0
Over 200,000 cattle are waiting at the U.S. border, which has been closed to cows since a flesh-eating cattle parasite was found in southern Mexico last November.
View of a Xochimilco chinampa across a canal

Saving Xochimilco: The battle to preserve Mexico City’s ancient canals

2
Organizations like Humedalia are working to preserve Xochimilco's traditional agriculture and stop environmental degradation from unchecked tourism.