Texas: Lawsuits fuel debate over English-only rules at work

[Harold Schiffman]

Dec. 11, 2007, 2:33PM
LANGUAGE BARRIER
Some bosses don't want to hear Spanish
Lawsuits fuel debate over English-only rules at work


By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


WHEN the captain heard three crew members on his container ship
chatting in Spanish during breaks, he became enraged. He then
brandished a knife to enforce his standing orders: Speak only English
on board. The incident, settled for $31,000 after a discrimination
suit was filed in a Houston federal court, is an extreme example of
cases fueling a growing debate over English-only policies in the
workplace, experts say. ''It's a lightning-rod issue, a lot of people
get upset," said Rudy Sustaita, a veteran attorney with the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed suit against the
Houston ship management firm that hired the captain. And a similar
suit earlier this year has sparked a showdown on Capital Hill, where
Senate Republicans approved legislation to block the EEOC's efforts to
dismantle English-only rules imposed by private companies.

The agency insists the few cases it brings challenge the most
''egregious" policies, where English is mandatory even though there is
no legitimate business need to do so. The English-only issue has been
pulled into the divisive debate over immigration, and promises to be a
pivotal issue in the 2008 elections. Measures about English usage are
not just popping up in the workplace. So far, 30 states have passed
laws making English their official language and others are pending.

Debate boycott
In Washington, activists are lobbying to make English the official
language of government and end the printing of bilingual voting
ballots.

''We're not against other languages, but we don't want to create an
English-optional society, either," said Tim Schultz, director of
governmental relations at U.S. English Inc., a conservative group at
the forefront of the English-only movement.

Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a candidate for the Republican
presidential nomination, boycotted Sunday's presidential debate on the
Spanish-language Univision network because he considered it
''pandering of the lowest order."

''I don't believe we should be encouraging the bilingualism of the
United States," Tancredo said Friday.

Activists say requiring English in the workplace often is a
contentious issue in Houston, where more than 90 languages can be
heard among the large populations of immigrants who have settled here
from around the world.

''It's fairly common in places of employment where the majority of the
workers speak English," said Laura Boston, an organizer for the
nonprofit Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center. ''Employers will
tell their employees they're not allowed to speak their own language."

Boston said requiring English is used as an ''annoyance tactic" with
workers, and is ''just part of the abuse you sometimes get from some
employers."

The EEOC says companies can require workers to speak English to
communicate with customers, co-workers or supervisors who only speak
English. English also may be required in the workplace to promote
safety, aid in cooperative work assignments or allow supervisors to
evaluate an employee whose duties include speaking with customers.


Salvation Army suit
''The cases we pursue are for what we call 'blanket policies,' " said
David Grinberg, an agency spokesman in Washington, D.C., who cited
suits involving workers who were not allowed to speak other languages
in the lunchroom, during calls to family members or in the company
parking lot.

The most recent controversy erupted in the wake of an EEOC suit
against the Salvation Army in April, filed after the charitable
organization fired two employees for speaking Spanish while they
sorted clothing in a thrift shop in Massachusetts.

In June, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., sponsored a bill that
passed the Senate, but not the House of Representatives, that would
prevent the EEOC from enforcing rules against English-only in the
workplace.

The EEOC has brought 29 English-only suits the last 11 years,
according to agency records, while worker complaints have dropped from
a high of 236 in 2002 to 125 last year, officials said.

''The bottom line is, the EEOC rarely files English-only litigation,
and we don't receive that many allegations," Grinberg said. ''When we
do file suit, once or twice a year, it's an egregious instance where
there is no business necessity."

EEOC officials in Houston say there have been relatively few lawsuits
filed over English in the workplace, since most companies resolve
complaints outside of court.

''I've been the senior lawyer here for 19 years, and we've had less
than half a dozen English-only language cases during that time," said
James Sacher, the EEOC's regional attorney in the Houston office.
''It's hard to generalize, but often if there's a problem presented in
a charge (complaint), there's a sensible, confidential resolution that
occurs during our investigative process."


Crippling decision?
Union officials say requiring the Houston workforce to speak English
on the job would cripple the local construction industry.

''I don't know that any general contractor — union or not — would go
so far as to have an English-only policy, because they wouldn't get
the job built," said Dale Wortham, president of the AFL-CIO council in
Harris County. ''That's because you're going to have at least 50
percent of your labor force that doesn't speak English."

james.pinkerton at chron.com http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5367409.html

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