Overzealous
attorneys at EEOC take aim to destroy the Kidmans' small family
business.
IN THE BEGINNING
The Kidman family has lived in the Border City of Page, Arizona.
Richard and Shauna moved to Page from Flagstaff, Arizona in order
to help run a small fast food business that they were partners
in with Dean and Judy Slavens. The name of RD's came from the
initials of Richard and Dean. The partners actually purchased
RD's Drive-In more than 2 years earlier from Leo Larson when it
was a little diner named The Pink Sans. Though Richard and Dean
split business paths years ago, Richard and Shauna, with the help
of their children have been able to earn a modest living as an
independent for 23 years.
Page, Arizona is a pleasant little city only 7 miles from the
Utah border. In 2000, the population was tallied at just under
8,000 residents. Bordering the Page city limits is part of the
Navajo Indian Reservation with a nearby community of LeChee less
than 3 miles into the reservation. The nearest cities closest
to Page are Flagstaff at 125 miles to the south, and Kanab, Utah
at 75 miles to the west. Everything else around Page is part of
the reservation or part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area,
which include beautiful Lake Powell.
The main sources of income for the region around Page are tourism
(visitors to Lake Powell and the beautiful lands surrounding it)
and the Navajo Generating Station (a large Navajo preference facility
operated by Salt River Project which supplies electricity to a
large population elsewhere).
When the Kidmans
moved to Page, their oldest child was Steven at 10 years old.
He was the lucky brother of 6 sisters, Tamara, Dawnell, Michelle,
Jennifer, Lynda, and Lynette. The youngest 3 were born in Page.
All of the children were able to work in the family business at
some time during their teenage years and 3 of them even worked
as manager for different lengths of time.
For those who have never operated an independent fast food business,
be assured, it is a lot of work. As is common for the fast food
industry, the turnover rate for employees is a little higher than
many other professions. In the past 23 years the Kidmans have
hired and trained almost eleven hundred employees. Many those
employees were school students, and 85 to 90 percent were Navajos.
They have made many friends from among the people they hired and
worked with on a daily basis.
COMMUNITY AND FRIENDS
The Kidmans will readily admit that running RD's Drive-In takes
a lot of time and effort and can be very frustrating at times,
but it certainly doesn't occupy all of their time. As a family,
they have been active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints from the day they moved to Page. Currently,
Richard is serving in his 6th year as a Bishop in one of the local
congregations. Until recently, the geographic boundary for this
congregation included a portion of the Navajo Reservation 27 to
35 miles south on highway 89 called Bitter Springs and Cedar Ridge.
Richard and many people from Page combined hard work with a lot
of time and love to help the people of that area learn about Jesus
Christ and create their own congregation with local leaders. All
who helped in this process developed a love of the Navajo people
that they will never diminish. Shauna is currently conducting
the Page Stake Choir as it prepares for its 15th annual Christmas
concert. With the help of a wonderful accompanist, JoAnn Mosier,
and the many devoted participants, this program has been an annual
event without interruption.
Every Christmas Eve, the Kidmans invite friends and neighbors
to join them for a dinner and program of music and singing. These
groups include people of other faiths, including the Navajo traditional
faith.
These evenings always prove to be very enjoyable.
Music has always been an important part of the Kidman family.
Shauna has helped in the High School choir program for years as
an accompanist for Richard Hintze and the many choirs that he
taught. She has helped in the band program as an assistant instructor
and has traveled with and accompanied dozens of students for their
solo ensemble performances at the Regional and State levels. She
has always been a piano teacher and has taught all seven of her
children to play. Steven and Dawnell continued piano at the college
level. Tamara, Michelle, and Lynette all learned to play the flute.
Dawnell learned the Clarinet. Jennifer learned the French horn.
Lynda learned the Euphonium. All of the sisters participated in
marching bands under the direction of Sharon Woodard and helped
to earn superior ratings at the high school level. The three youngest
sisters, Jennifer and the twins - Lynda and Lynette, are Music
majors at Arizona State University and are members of the top
performance choir. The three youngest sisters have recently recorded
a Christmas CD that will be marketed next year and have plans
for recording original music soon. Through all of this music,
Richard was the authority on whether it sounded good or not -
or so the others let him think.
GETTING HIT IN THE FACE
Most of the Kidmans have moved away from Page. Richard, Shauna,
and Steven remain, along with the drive-in. RD's has been a good
little store with a good local and tourist following. A lot of
the Kidman family has gone into that little corner of Page. It
is in danger now. In danger of disappearing under the weight of
having to defend itself against an outrageous lawsuit filed by
the Federal Government. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
has filed suit that the Kidmans are malicious, recklessly indifferent,
suppressive, and discriminatory against the Navajo people. This
suit is the result of exaggerated and false accusations by a handful
of former employees combined with an unobjective inquiry by the
EEOC and the overzealous desire of the EEOC attorneys to have
what they have described as a "landmark case" to their credit.
This all stemmed from an event in June of 2000 when the Kidmans
tried to curb what was at times a "hostile and harassing" work
environment for their employees. The Kidmans, along with most
of their Navajo employees, cannot understand the Navajo language.
The morale of the crew was in decay because of derogatory, crude,
and even harassing remarks by a few bilingual employees. This
was very offensive to most of the employees who could understand
just enough to know they were being insulted. This was not a new
problem. For more than 20 years the problem would surface from
time to time. The Kidmans and all of their employees were and
are fluent in English. After following the EEOC web sight information
concerning English Only policies, they tried to implement one.
Before attempting any discipline in regards to the policy, they
decided they would need to have proof that all employees had been
informed of the policy and understood the policy. Therefore, they
requested that all employees sign a copy of the policy - not in
agreement of it - but only that they were informed about it and
understood it. From this event and resulting arguments between
Steven and 4 of the bilingual employees, the Federal Government
now deems the Kidmans as malicious, recklessly indifferent, suppressive,
and discriminating people.
As one can imagine, this has caused a very high level of anxiety
for the Kidmans. They followed the EEOC's own guidelines and know
that they did nothing wrong. The costs of defending themselves
against the EEOC will be staggering if not impossible for a business
the size of an independent drive-in. The Kidmans have a good lawyer.
They pray for his abilities every day. They hope that through
the help of others and the clear mind of a jury and judge that
the truth will come out and that RD's Drive-In will be able to
continue the claim of being one of the few independent Drive-In's
still in operation in Northern Arizona.
Steven R. Kidman
FINAL OUTCOME
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