English Only Policies in the Workplace: A Briefing Before the United States Commission on Civil Rights Held in Washington, DC.

摘要

In recent years, some employers have attempted to supervise their bilingual employees by specifying English as the common language of the workplace, meaning that their employees have been required to speak English rather than another language while on the job. Among the reasons employers give for these rules are (1) the need for more effective supervision; (2) the need to ensure optimal communication so as to ensure safety, quality, etc.; (3) the need to avoid unnecessary friction as employees wonder whether others are talking about them and what they are saying, especially when employee relations have a racial or gender-related dimension to them; and (4) the need to show respect for customers who may be similarly put off by conversations they cannot understand. The EEOC has taken the position that these English Only policies frequently violate the law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of national origin. Employers may (and frequently do) insist that an employee be proficient in English or in some other particular language, but under Title VII they cannot insist that these employees be native speakers. The EEOC takes the position that employers whose workforce includes employees who are not native English speakers cannot specify English as the common workplace language without potentially violating Title VII using disparate impact analysis.