Diaz said he was not informed of hiscommunication problem until less than a monthbefore he was fired. Diaz said, and departmentsources confirmed, that Dowling had eveninterviews him before he was hired.

In the five months that Diaz was employed bythe University, he worked at a variety oflocations and was elevated from part-time tofulltime status. For more than a week, he wasassigned to the Business School, considered oneof the most difficult beats in the department.

Diaz said Dowling did not tell him that hisEnglish was a problem until June 6, 1989, afterhis stint at the Business School. Diaz was firedon June 22, 1989.

In his union grievance, Diaz charged that hisfiring constituted discrimination on the basis ofnational origin. Diaz also charged that he was notrepresented by an accredited union representativeat the meeting in which how was fired.

Diaz's grievance was denied by police andsecurity division officials on two separateoccasions during 1990. The guard appealed bothrulings, but the second appeal could not be hearduntil January 1990 because he returned to ElSalvador in August 1989 to renew his visa.

In a two-page response dated February 13, 1990.Harvard officials denied Diaz's second appeal,saying that Diaz "was unable to perform the dutiesof security guard satisfactorily because he wasnot sufficiently proficient in English" and thathis complaint was not timely.

In addition, four written complaints aboutDiaz's job performance were presented against theguard's first in August 1989