Texas Employee Policy Handbooks by Handbook Hero

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Is it ever OK to require employees to speak only English on the job?

A Dunkin' Donuts location in Baltimore made headlines recently with a countertop sign alerting customers to free breakfast items if they reported on employees for speaking anything other than English. Once social media posts complaining about it went viral, the franchisee removed it.

Employers often feel the need to institute English-only policies when several languages are spoken in the workplace that may cause customer confusion or disrupt operations. But instituting a reliable policy requires narrow restrictions on when the policy is in effect and to what degree.

Texas has seen its share of staggering settlements arising from disputes over language policies. In what was at the time the largest such settlement in history, a San Antonio college agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle claims brought by 18 Hispanic housekeepers that school officials violated federal law by prohibiting the former employees from speaking Spanish at work, even during break periods, and harassing those that did. Three of the plaintiffs spoke no English at all.

The college paid $1 million in damages to the housekeepers and tuition waivers totaling $1.44 million. The school was also required to hire a consultant to train its staff on job discrimination twice a year for three years.

That settlement eclipsed another landmark ruling from Dallas the year before when a judge awarded $710,000 to 13 employees who alleged their employer's English-only rule discriminated against them.

Ensuring your English-only policies are compliant is two-fold: First, the content of the policy must be narrowly tailored to specific times or circumstances, and designed to meet legitimate and specific business needs. Second, its existence and consequences must be made known to employees prior to enforcement.

Also be sure your policy permits employees to use languages other than English during breaks, with non-native speaking customers, and while performing tasks that are not critical to a specific language.

Here are the situations where employers can safely enforce an English-only language policy:

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

Generally, if an employee's job duties are inherently tied to the precise use or style of language, and the policy is designed to protect safety or to harmonize employee relations, broader English-only policies may be permissible. But steps must be taken to ensure that enforcement of the policy does not result in liability from national-origin discrimination charges. This is where many employers get into trouble.

If you foresee the need for a language policy, work closely with your managers to ensure that enforcement does not result in the appearance of discrimination.

As part of our mission to support Texas employers, Handbook Hero offers our full English Only policy, available in our Silver and Gold handbook editions, free of charge with no obligation. Contact us today and reference "English Only Policy" in your comments to receive your free copy.

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