EEOC battles English-only policies.

Two suits brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have resulted in significant awards for Hispanic workers who were fired or discriminated against by companies that had English-only policies in the workplace. According to the commission, the English-only rules discriminated against the workers based on their national origin, violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In both cases, the courts found there was no business justification for the blanket policies, which applied at all times. including during phone calls, lunch breaks, and even conversations outside the building with coworkers or friends.

"Cases involving English-only rules, restrictive language policies, and language or accent discrimination are litigation priorities for the commission," said EEOC general counsel C. Gregory Stewart. "Employers must refrain from targeting workers for discrimination based on myths, fears, and stereotypes regarding their primary language and country of origin."

On September 19, Judge Paul Stickney of the Northern District of Texas awarded damages to 13 Hispanic employees of Premier Operator Services, Inc. The long-distance operator service had a policy that its operators speak only English at work. The EEOC filed suit, alleging the workers were hired for their ability to speak Spanish but were told never to speak it on the premises unless dealing with non-English-speaking customers. Workers who wouldn't sign the policy were fired and retaliated against, the commission said.

On September 1, the EEOC settled a case with Watlow Batavia, Inc., on behalf of eight Hispanic workers from an assembly plant outside Chicago who the commission said were discriminated against, unfairly disciplined, and fired for speaking Spanish with coworkers and friends. One man was fired for saying buenos dias to a co-worker at the start of the day.

Jose Behar, an EEOC supervisory trial attorney in the case, said the company had no business justification for the policy because there weren't any communication problems between employees on the line.

Judge Milton Shadur of the Northern District of Illinois oversaw the settlement, under which Watlow Batavia agreed not to discriminate against workers based on national origin or implement any English-only rules. The company also pledged to provide training to management on the subject.

These cases "remind us that language differences must not make employees the target of mean-spirited or even well-intended language policies when there is no real business necessity or justification for such policies," said EEOC Chair Ida Castro in a statement.

Since 1996, when the EEOC began tracking English-only charges, the number of filings has increased from 77 to 365 in fiscal year 2000. The commission is seeing the greatest increase in these complaints in states with increasing immigrant populations, such as Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. The commission has created a task force on national origin that reaches out to Hispanic and Asian groups.