English Only In The Workplace? Bad Idea

It's very tempting for employers to mandate their employees speak only English during working hours.

It's also - in most cases - very wrong.

The EEOC provides some examples where English-only would be justified by business necessity:

• For communications with customers, co-workers, or supervisors who only speak English.
• In emergencies or other situations in which workers must speak a common language to promote safety.
• For cooperative work assignments in which the English-only rule is needed to promote efficiency.
• To enable a supervisor who only speaks English to monitor the performance of an employee whose job duties require communication with co-workers or customers.

If you wish to mandate an English-only workplace, we strongly suggest you review the policy with an employment attorney prior to implementation.

It's not worth it!