Some new managers come to the Mariana Islands and immediately struggle with workplaces where employees speak Chamorro, Tagalog, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and English. Unwiling to deal with a multi-language workforce, they issue a memo requiring everyone to speak English.

The memo is ignored and the new boss starts firing people. In time, the new boss is transferred to Pig's Knuckle, Iowa and things return to normal. 

English-only policies are not unlawful, but your attorney will explain how they can end up costing you dearly in court.

For example, four Haitian employees were repeatedly ordered by their supervisor to "stop speaking in Creole and start speaking in English." Other employees were permitted to speak French, Russian, Italian, Greek, Lebanese, and Spanish, so the Haitian employees filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging national origin discrimination. When the company learned that it faced an EEOC lawsuit, and that a supervisor had made derogatory comments about Haitians, the embarassed employer to settle to the tune of $300,000.

An English-only policy can be enforced if it is: effective only during certain periods of the workday; job-related; and a business necessity.

Acceptable business necessities can include: enhancing workplace safety; facilitating managers’ ability to supervise; improving employees’ English proficiency, especially when your customer base is primarily English speaking; fostering employee relations within a work unit; and reducing ethnic tension.

Rethink your wish to establish an English-only policy and make sure you:

-- Steer clear of blanket policies, even though they may be tempting because they are easier to consistently enforce. Instead, go with partial English-only rules. Start by identifying the business necessity for the rule, and then create language restrictions to foster this necessity. For example: requiring all employees to speak English while working on an assembly line for safety reasons.

-- Don’t play favorites. If English-only rules are in place, avoid allowing some, but not others, to speak in their native tongue. Never adopt a "no [specific language]" policy, because it that would discriminate against certain groups.

-- Publicize your policy. According to the EEOC, an employer is guilty of national origin discrimination if it fails to inform employees about an English-only rule and then disciplines employees for violating it. Therefore, make sure all employees know about the policy and the reasons for it.

-- Take the written word into consideration as well. When drafting documents to be signed by employees who cannot read or understand English, you should and prepare the document in their native language or allow them to have an interpreter translate it for them before signing.

A Sample Policy

We are fortunate to have so many employees who can speak more than just the English language. This reflects well on (company name) as an Equal Opportunity Employer and it improves our ability to compete for business from non-English speaking customers.

English is the language used by (company name), and English should be used by all employees when engaged in company business.  This policy was put in place to help maintain workplace safety; to improve employees’ English proficiency and to foster employee relations within a work unit; and to reduce and eliminate ethnic tension.

Very often, the use of a language other than English can improve and enhance business communications, and we encourage the use of other languages. Employees who are learning a second or third language are urged to practice speaking those languages when work and business circumstances permit.

Employees are asked to remember that common courtesy requires than when someone becomes part of a work group that uses a language the new person does not understand, the group should switch to English so we can maintain a work atmosphere where no employee is made to feel inferior, isolated, intimidated or harassed on the basis of their national origin. This is a major operating policy of our company and performance appraisals will reflect compliance with it

June 3, 2008.

CAUTION: When dealing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, bear in mind that the EEOC has very broad powers of "discovery" and EEOC agents tend to embark on "fishing expeditions" in the course of investigating complaints -- they start in on one complaint, and wind up looking into several others.  We caution employers to deal with the EEOC only through experienced attorneys who are well-grounded in employment law -- lawyers with blood on their teeth! One HR manager who thought she could handle an EEOC complaint without an attorney wound up sending EEOC investigators all kinds of documents and files...the eventual cost in back pay, overtime, fines, penalties (and -- eventually -- legal fees) was about $75,000.