English Only Rules In The Wokplace A Hot Issue In Employment Law.
Employment lawyers are busy defending English-only cases in the workplace. Recently, California and Texas workers alleging that they were punished for speaking Spanish in the workplace settled a lawsuit for $450,000 and free English classes. According to a consent decree in a class-action lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Los Angeles, the discrimination lawsuit was brought against the Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. and its affiliated firms. According to the lawsuit, the company enforced an English-only rule against Latino employees but not other ethnic groups speaking Tagalog and other languages. The EEOC's regional attorney said that Spanish to Spanish speaking by Latino employees was prohibited even on breaks and in the company's parking lot. The lawsuit alleged that the company discriminated against the workers on the basis of their national origin. Federal law and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination prohibits discrimination based on an employee's national origin.
Employment law cases involving national origin discrimination are increasing. According to the EEOC, filings increased to a record high of 10,601, up 13% from the previous year. 204 of the filings involved English-only rules. This was an increase of 125 from cases two years earlier, according to the EEOC statistics.
Generally speaking, English-only workplace policies for employees are permissable, but there should be a business necessity for the rule. In addition, employers are permitted to ask employees that speak English to do so in the workplace under federal law.
New Jersey employment lawyers representing employers need to check their client's policies and procedures to ensure that the client is not exposing itself to litigation for claims involving national origin discrimination. Immigration issues are a hot topic these days, including English-only rules in the workplace.
