English-Speaking Employee Starts Spanish "Inquisition"

(Published September 15, 2008)

Reprinted from MANAGER'S LEGAL BULLETIN, a widely read employment law newsletter that communicates legal guidelines to managers through scenarios based on real-life cases. Click here to view a sample issue, get more information, or sign up for a risk-free subscription.

When you have a multi-lingual workforce that doesn't always speak English in the workplace, there are bound to be those who are uncomfortable when they can't understand what their colleagues are saying.  They may complain to you about their discomfort, but you shouldn’t translate that into an English-only policy.

Individual Conflict 

"Can you do something about all the people that stand in the hallways and speak Spanish really loudly?  It's hard for me to concentrate!  When I asked them to stop talking so loudly in Spanish, Lina told me to get to the other side of the building where all the English-speaking people are," Abby Callum complained to her manager.  "They obviously can understand and speak English, so I don’t understand why they can't speak English at all times when they're at work."

"Let me try to understand what the problem is.  Is it the volume of their voices or the fact that they are speaking Spanish?" Olivia Dykstra asked.

"Both.  They talk faster in Spanish and tend to get louder.  I can hear them down the hallway and it's distracting."

 
"I will talk to them about keeping the volume down on their conversations so as to not disturb others.  However, I will not prevent them from speaking Spanish."

  
Dykstra explained to Callum that an English-only rule was not appropriate where communicating in a foreign language did not affect the business.  In the course of their discussion, Callum revealed that she felt uncomfortable when she didn’t understand what people around her were saying.

"They could be talking about me or making fun of me!  How could you allow something to occur that makes people feel intimidated or harassed?"

"I hear what you're saying, Abby, but it's not enough of a justification to prohibit the speaking of foreign languages in our workplace.  There is simply no evidence that the employees are engaging in intimidating or harassing behavior or creating conflict within the department merely by speaking Spanish to one another."

Dykstra tried another tack.  "If Lina complained to me that she saw you whispering to a co-worker and couldn’t hear what you were saying, would you think it was okay for me to ask you to stop having private conversations?"

Callum begrudgingly conceded that she saw the manager's point.

Individual Coaching 

Dykstra next coached Callum on approaching her co-workers in a professional manner when their voices got too loud (regardless of the language in which they spoke) and became a distraction.  "They may not realize that you can hear them, so start with a simple heads up.  Lina's response to you tells me that she interpreted your remark as a knock on the fact that she was speaking in Spanish.  I don't think she understood that the main issue was her volume.

"If you talk to the individuals and they don't lower their voices or move to another area, then let me know."

Department-Wide Coaching

Dykstra also held a department meeting in which she emphasized the need for the staff members to be considerate of each other.  She spoke about how they needed to be aware of how their actions could affect others' ability to get their work done.  She used as just one example how voices can carry and disturb others.  She never brought up language.  She reminded the employees to:

• keep their voices down,
  
  
• move extended conversations out of the hallways and into an office or conference room,
  
  
• shut the door if necessary, and
  
  
• respect each other’s requests.

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