English-Only Rules

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal contains an excellent article pointing out that employers requiring employees to speak only English can face discrimination suits.  The EEOC has filed one such suit against Sephora USA, the division of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.  The WSJ article quotes EEOC attorney Raechel Adams as saying: "This is the type of double-standard we want to prevent.  Hispanic employees are expected to speak Spanish with customers but at the same time are reprimanded for speaking Spanish in their free time."  The EEOC reports a significant increase in charges of discrimination based on English-only rules.  For the complete article, see Testing 'English Only' Rules.