NYPD female officer, Jessenia Guzman, of Dominican origin, filed two complaints with the federal Department of Labor, after she received a reprimand for saying a phrase in Spanish during working hours.

"It was natural," said Guzman, who has been with the NYPD for thirteen years and now has a "stain" on her record for answer in Spanish to her colleague.

"She was going for coffee, said something and I said (in Spanish)," said Guzman, who answers phone calls at the headquarters in Manhattan when the incident happened last May.

Hours later on the date of this incident, her supervisor called her into his office to inform her of the reprimand, which according to their policy; officers should communicate in English during working hours.

After this reprimand, Guzman, who resides in the Bronx, filed two complaints for violations of federal labor laws.

A spokesman for the Police Department, where one in three officers are Hispanic, defended the policy and said that this organization must speak in one voice, English.

Editorial@Sandiegored.com

Omar.Martinez@Sandiegored.com