America has often been referred to as a "cultural mosaic" - a society in which immigrants retain their own national characteristics while integrating into a new society.   This presents many benefits to our society, yet also presents certain hurdles. I was recently contacted by a client who was faced with such a hurdle.

The client is a business owner who had concerns about not being able to understand bilingual employees who spoke to each other in their native language during working hours. The client asked whether he could designate the workplace an "English-only" zone.

My initial opinion was that the law provides broad protections against discrimination in the workplace; however, language, in-and-of-itself, is not a classification specifically protected under the law. My research confirmed my initial opinion; claims of discrimination on the basis of language have been unsuccessful where the language policy involved work-related communications by bilingual employees, and the policy furthered a legitimate business purpose.

This naturally leads to the question, what does the law consider a "legitimate business purpose?" The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency responsible for enforcing laws against workplace discrimination, has identified the following two categories of legitimate business purposes that justify an English-only policy: (1) policies directed at communications between customers, coworkers or supervisors who only speak English, or (2) policies seeking to permit a supervisor who only speaks English to monitor the performance of an employee whose job duties require communication with coworkers or customers. Courts have routinely upheld employer policies that fall under these two EEOC categories. There is also considerable legal support for English-only policies where the policy seeks to address a security concern in the workplace.

Therefore, an employer can require its employees to speak only English for certain work-related communications as long as the policy is supported by a legitimate business purpose. However, it is critical that an employer effectively notify its employees of the policy as well as the consequences of violating the policy. Additionally, employers must be careful with the manner in which the policy is enforced. Improper or unequal enforcement of the policy could be discriminatory, especially if accompanied by other seemingly discriminatory conduct.