http://www.elinfonet.com/fedindex/15 Articles discussing national origin discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:07:34 EST en-us http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=6296 Article: 6296 Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Did you know that considering a person’s foreign accent in determining whether to hire or promote them can give rise to liability for nation origin discrimination? A recent case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (the federal circuit for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee) demonstrates precisely how this might happen. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=6251 Article: 6251 Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Last week’s free speech ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case reminds us that employers, like educational institutions, have the right to regulate speech in the workplace. Private sector employers are unrestricted by the First Amendment, which applies only to government action. But there are legal restrictions applicable to private employers as well. One such restriction that is often misunderstood by employers is single-language policies. Usually they’re English-only policies, but the same rules could apply to any employer’s policy limiting the language employees may speak on the job. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=5647 Article: 5647 Wed, 11 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) The National Labor Relations Board recently issued new guidelines broadly interpreting the definition of a "supervisor" under the National Labor Relations Act. This is important to employers because a "supervisor" does not have the right to be represented by a union or to engage in union organizing. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=5073 Article: 5073 Fri, 07 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) EEOC regulations prohibit blanket restrictions on the use of languages in the workplace, and the agency has targeted employers who impose broad English-only policies. However, a narrowly drawn policy that requires English to be spoken at certain times and/or in certain areas is permissible if the employer can establish a business necessity for the policy. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=5034 Article: 5034 Tue, 28 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) When the City of Altus, Oklahoma received a complaint that non-Spanish-speaking employees could not understand what was being said on the city radio because employees were speaking Spanish, the city promulgated a policy to address the situation. The policy, which generally provided that all work related and business communications be conducted in English, drew a lawsuit from eleven Hispanic employees who were fluent in both English and Spanish. The employees contended that the city’s “English-only” policy violated federal employment discrimination laws and their First Amendment Rights. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=4877 Article: 4877 Wed, 25 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) The Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held that several Hispanic plaintiffs should be permitted to go to trial on their claims that their employer's English-only policy violates federal antidiscrimination laws. See Maldonado v. City of Altus. In this case, the employer adopted a policy requiring employees to speak English in all work-related communications, except when necessary to communicate with a citizen in his or her native language because of the citizen's limited English skills. The policy exempted private conversations between co-workers that occur while on break or during lunch hours or before or after work hours, as long as city property is not used in the communication. The policy also exempted private communications between an employee and a family member so long as the communications are limited in time and not disruptive to the work environment. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=4750 Article: 4750 Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) A federal court has ruled that an Afghanistan-born restaurant worker’s claim of national origin harassment was not unlawful because the employee could not prove that the harassment adversely affected his working conditions or that anyone in management was aware of the harassment. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=4650 Article: 4650 Tue, 11 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) On July 21, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that a company’s CEO discriminated against an employee of Arabic heritage on the basis of race by insisting on referring to him as “Manny” or “Hank” rather than by his Arabic names. The plaintiff, Mamdouh El-Hakem, sued his former employer, BJY, Inc., and its chief executive officer, Gregg Young, for discrimination under federal laws and was awarded $15,000 in compensatory damages and $15,000 in punitive damages. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=4476 Article: 4476 Fri, 29 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) Proving that lawsuits can be generated over the most unlikely facts, three waiters at one of New York’s most snitzy restaurants have filed a discrimination lawsuit against the 21 Club, alleging that management there “created and fostered an environment rife with anti-French sentiment.” The three waiters are all in their 60s and also alleged age discrimination. http://www.elinfonet.com/newscount.php?popID=3898 Article: 3898 Mon, 06 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST elin@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) As most of our readers know, English-only rules can potentially cause a business to run afoul of anti-discrimination laws. With this in mind, many employers wonder how they can keep their workforce in tune with English speaking customers without being perceived as insensitive to an employee’s culture or native language, particularly when spoken in the presence of customers who do not understand it. This dichotomy is particularly evident in the Hospitality industry, which in recent years, has depended heavily on non-English speaking workers for its housekeeping and other entry-level positions.