EEOC Sues Company For Requiring All Employees To Speak English

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against an American company for discriminating against a group of Hispanic and Asian employees because they did not speak English fluently.

A Green Bay, WI-based metal and plastic manufacturer fired a group of Hmong and Hispanic workers over their English skills, “even though those skills were not needed to perform their jobs,” according to the lawsuit. All of those fired had received satisfactory ratings on their annual performance evaluations while working at the company.

According to a news release from the EEOC, such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees from discrimination based on national origin, including the linguistic characteristics of a national origin group.

Requirements of English fluency and so-called English-only rules are often implemented to make what is really discrimination appear acceptable, said the EEOC attorney handling this case. “But superficial appearances are not fooling anyone,” he assures. “When speaking English fluently is not, in fact, required for the safe and effective performance of a job, nor for the successful operation of the employer’s business, requiring employees to be fluent in English usually constitutes employment discrimination on the basis of national origin—and thus violates federal law.”

The company maintains that “the EEOC’s allegations are false and completely without merit,” saying that “the layoff decisions at issue in the fall of 2012 were made on the basis of the employees’ overall comparative skills, behaviors and job performance over time. Though the decisions were difficult, they were necessary in order to ensure the ongoing stability of Wisconsin Plastics for the benefit of WPI’s customers, its shareholders, the community and the roughly 275 current company and temporary employees.” S