Speaking in Tongues: As More Immigrants Enter Work Force, English-Only Rules Come Into Question

Dec. 11— While she was working at cosmetics store Sephora in New York City's Rockefeller Center, Leydis Rodriguez says she was prohibited from speaking Spanish at all times.

"We were not allowed to speak our native language on the floor … and on our lunch break," she says.

Rodriguez and four other women all say they were told to speak English on the job, including during their breaks, and that managers frequently mimicked their speech and accents.

"I would feel really bad, angry at them, and discriminated [against]," says Mariela Del Rosario, one of the women filing the suit.

When the store closed in August of 2002, Rodriguez and two of the women who spoke out about the English-only rule say they were not offered positions anywhere else in the company, and lost their jobs.

Now the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Sephora on behalf of the women for instituting an "English-only" rule, which the commission says violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a rule that prohibits discrimination against workers based on their national origin, among other factors.

"Hispanics in particular were targeted here," says Raechel L. Adams, trial attorney for the EEOC. "People working in Sephora in Rockefeller Center in particular who spoke other languages were allowed to speak their language all day long."

For its part, Sephora says it does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and that it considers the allegations by the EEOC to be groundless and it will defend itself vigorously.

"Furthermore, we do not have, and never have had, an 'English-only' rule in our workplace," said a company statement. "In fact, Sephora encourages employees to use their foreign language skills to facilitate client service."

The Sephora lawsuit is just one of many cases popping up across the country alleging that employers are prohibiting workers from speaking their native language on the job. And with a rising number of non-English speakers working in the service sector, experts expect there to be more.

The EEOC tracked 228 charges of English-only type of discrimination in the workplace for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2002. That's up significantly from the 91 cases the commission saw when it first started tracking English-only cases in 1996.

According to the latest census data, nearly one in five people, or 47 million U.S. residents age 5 and older, speak a language other than English at home, an increase of 15 million people since 1990. That dramatic jump means that more and more employers are going to be faced with the question of dealing with workers who speak another language on the job.

With the growing number of non-English speakers in the work force, experts say many employers worry about workers using another language to insult or harass others. They want to know what's being said in the workplace.

"From the employer's perspective, the employer is saying, 'I'm under pressure to make sure I don't discriminate … but I'm going to have problems with productivity and collegiality if these groups go off and speak their own language,' " says Merrick Rossein, a law professor who specializes in workplace discrimination at the City University of New York's School of Law in Queens.

A case in Page, Ariz., involves RD's Drive-In, a family-owned restaurant that employs and serves many Navajo Indians. In June 2000, the owners decided to implement an English-only policy except for when workers were waiting on people who didn't speak English. The restaurant's owners, the Kidman family, said some of the workers were using offensive language in their native tongue on the job. Workers were asked to sign a policy that said, "The owner of this business can speak and understand only English. While the owner is paying you as an employee, you are required to use English at all times. The only exception is when the customer cannot understand English. If you feel unable to comply with this requirement, you may find another job," according to the EEOC.

Four women who refused to sign the agreement say they were fired, according to the EEOC, which is currently suing the restaurant. A lawyer for the Kidman family says the women left of their own accord.

The case is still ongoing, but the Kidmans are standing firm in their case, saying that the use of abusive language in their restaurant has stopped.

"They feel like implementing that policy solved the problem," says Joe Becker, a lawyer for the Mountain States Legal Foundation, which is representing the family. "They don't acknowledge or recognize that they've done anything that violates any laws."

Indeed, the legality of English-only policies is a subject of great debate. While the EEOC says it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, supporters of English-only policies say that is a loose interpretation of the act.

"We find that the EEOC tries to give short shrift to those legitimate business and management reasons for trying to implement an English-only policy on the job," says K.C. McAlpin, executive director of ProEnglish, an Arlington, Va.-based nonprofit group that promotes the use of English as the country's official language and is helping the Kidman family to defend themselves.

"We call it their 'undeclared war on English,' " he adds. "We think it puts employers between a rock and a hard place and it's also bad social policy for the country at large." Law professor Rossein says courts have generally sided in favor of employers who have English-only policies for workers while they're on the job, rather than those that ask that they speak English on breaks or at lunch.

He says many courts look to a case called Garcia vs. Gloor, in which a man named Hector Garcia was fired by a company called Gloor Lumber and Supply in Brownsville, Texas, for speaking Spanish with another employee in violation of the company's policy. The Supreme Court refused to review a lower court ruling that upheld the company's firing of the employee.

"The courts have been very conservative in this area and have not adopted the EEOC's guidelines," says Rossein. "The majority of the cases side with the employer."

Still, lawyers and representatives for the EEOC say they will continue to fight English-only policies, and expect to see more cases in the coming years.

"When it gets to the point of impinging on someone's civil rights and when it becomes discrimination against someone's culture and who he or she is, it's illegal," says the EEOC trial lawyer Adams.

Bilingualism (I like the new spell checker!) from a Canadian point of view.

Think Canada's the place to be? Think again

By Jennifer Meeks
Special to The Times

It has been said that Seattle mirrors Canada in its tolerant attitudes, but there is a dark side to this utopia across the border.

My husband and I left Canada six years ago to start a new life in the United States. Tens of thousands of university-educated, middle-class Canadians leave Canada for the U.S. every year. The Canadian government even has a name for us — "The Brain Drain."

Why do we leave?

Taxes — Ever wonder why you see so many rusty cars up north? It's not just because they salt the roads in the wintertime. People can't afford new ones.

Fifty percent of the Canadian paycheck goes to taxes. And, in Ontario, for example, there's a 15-percent tax at the cash register. Think about paying that every time you buy a car, a fridge or clothes. The Canadian middle class has almost been taxed out of existence.

Official bilingualism — This is what most of the taxes pay for.

Learning and speaking another language may seem like fun to most Americans. Forget about that textbook Parisian you learned in high school. My husband speaks French fluently but not by Canadian government standards. He'd be passed over in employment by someone who speaks a government-approved level of French.

Canada is officially bilingual and that means everything must be in French and English. Everything. It's the law.

If you or your company do not comply with regulations then the official language "police" will be at your door. If you want to pursue a career in retail, the police, the post office, government, business and even the military, you must be bilingual.

The U.S. has its issues with African Americans and Canada has its issues with French Canadians. Affirmative action in the name of official bilingualism has resulted in a great deal of conflict.

Employment — If you are English-speaking in Canada, it's difficult to find a job.

Salaries are much lower than in the U.S. When we moved to the U.S., my husband almost tripled his salary.

Our standard of living is beyond what we could have ever achieved in a lifetime living in Canada. Our relatives can't believe how well average, middle-class Americans live. Our son, who has a learning disability, is getting the best education ever in an American public school.

Meanwhile, it is the norm for Canadian schools to have at least 40 kids per class — that is, if the teachers are not on strike.

Speaking of strikes. There are a lot of unhappy workers in Canada. I remember one summer when the bus drivers, postal workers, movie projectionists and government workers were all on strike. Even the doctors have "worked to rule" — offering minimum health care to their patients to force the government to comply with their demands.

Health care — Speaking of doctors, every Canadian has experienced or knows of a family member who has a nightmare health-care story. It may be free but that doesn't mean it's good.

Hospitals are miserable. There are long waiting lists for the most basic treatments and operations. When we went to an American hospital, it was like entering a five-star hotel. I hear Americans complain about the cost of medical bills but I would rather my child be alive and have a bill to pay than to be dead at no charge.

In Canada, there is one system of health care for everyone — except the elite or government bureaucrats, who go to the U.S. and pay for decent health care.

Political oppression — Imagine an American president and one political party in power for over 10 years. That's what's happened in Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's regime has been in control for more than a decade and the average Canadian is fed up and glad to see him go. Even then, it was his decision to allow an election. Hopefully, Canada will be able to make amends and repair its relationship with the U.S.

Living in Canada made me feel like a barn animal in George Orwell's "Animal Farm." My only worry is that someday the United States will resemble Canada. Sort of like one giant Seattle. That would be my nightmare.

P.S. One difference between Canadians and Seattlelites is coffee. A Canadian would never choose Starbucks over Tim Horton's. That's one of the few things the Canadian government can't control.

Jennifer Meeks is a Canadian living in Seattle while she and her husband are waiting for their green cards. Her husband works in marketing for a sports memorabilia company.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company

American cities are becoming like a scene from a dusty, third world market place. From a distance, or from the air, they still look rather impressive...That is until you get close up.

Dirty, very over crowded, unbearable traffic, with many in the crowds babbling endlessly in foreign tongues, many that seem to have little patients, or smug distain for long time American citizens.

All pushing, shouting for the next dollar, many seem bitter or angry in their new found land.

We have actually seen cheap Chinese goods strapped to vehicles driving by, taxis with 5 and 6 huge bill boards on them, where most all the drivers speak little English, and all look like Osama, selling rugs and cheap goods out of their trunks of their cars.

Where nice, quality stores once stood, there are now 99cent stores, or other shops with signs in other languages. Where the foot traffic in many areas has doubled and tripled.....Where seeing 40-year old adults on children's bicycles are common.

Cities where people open up for business over night out of a truck, or small shop, with little concern for laws, regulations, licenses, etc.

Remember how it used to be?

How very sad.

America I hardly new ya......

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