Speaking English Only

My seminar on "Immigrant and Ethnic Workers" as you can imagine, is keeping me very busy these days. Since many of you are using a large number of immigrant workers, pay attention to this, and discuss it with those that do the hiring. In 2000, just under 18% of our population or about 45 million people spoke a language other than English at home. About 10 million spoke little or no English.

With this in mind, realize that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is closely watching hiring decisions based on language requirements. National origin and language discrimination lawsuits are rising. If you don't hire someone based on an accent, it better be for a job where that accent is interfering with their ability to communicate in English which is critical (i.e English teacher, air controller) to the position. Don't impose a language fluency standard that is too high for the position for which they are applying. Don't create blanket policies for the same fluency on all jobs, when some jobs do not need it. Also, be careful about the English only rules you create. These rules are only allowed by the courts in certain narrow situations, where employees must communicate with customers, co-workers, and bosses that speak English only.