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Spanish speaking applicants

HR IN ALHR IN AL 37 Posts
in HR & Employment Law Vote Up0Vote Down
We are part of a large corporation . However, we only have 135 employees at my plant. What do you do when an person comes in to apply and cannot speak a word of english or fill out application?

We have no one who speaks spanish and it would be a huge burden to accomodate this.

what are my legal responsibiities? I realize we cannot discriminate but one of the essential function of our jobs is the ability to communicate ???

Any input anyone can provide will be appreciated.
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Comments

  • 5 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • DasherDasher 463 Posts
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    I know of no legal requirement to provide language (other than sign because this could address a disability) interpretation for a job interview. Should a Chinese speaking applicant come to apply, would you ask the same question?

    Now, if your labor market is such that you would like to open the pool of applicants to those in any certain category (say, Spanish speaking) it would then be in the company's interest to provide an interpreter for those without English speaking skills.

    If communication skills are a bona fide job requirement, that would eliminate anyone who can not communicate -- and speaking the dominate language of your customers/work force would certainly disqualify anyone without that skill. If speaking English is just something your company would just like but not a job requirement, then do not discriminate against an applicant just because they are not adept at English -- however the onus is on the applicant to get through the job application process, and as the HR person, I would allow them to bring someone to the interview to assist.

    If anyone sees this another way, I would welcome contrary advice.
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  • NeedCoffeeNeedCoffee 595 Posts
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    I know this doesn't really answer the question, but our company is in an area with a large Spanish-speaking population, and we in fact employ a few employees who cannot speak English.

    We've never had a problem with our application, which is only in English. Typically, an applicant will come in, and they know enough English to indicate they would like a job application. We give it to them, and it is up to the applicant to find someone help them fill the app out. Should we be interested in the applicant, we find someone to translate.
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  • stilldazedstilldazed 640 Posts
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    Do you allow folks to take the application away from the facility to complete it and bring it back? If you do, that might be one option for you--let the person take it (which could also be your effort to accomodate), rely on the person to find someone who can help with interpretation, and bring the application back for consideration.

    That won't solve the interview issue, which might logically follow. Be careful relying only on 'communication' as a requirement as a reason to not try to overome the language barrier. What you are referring to as communication is really language. Someone whose language is restricted to a language other than that spoken in the workplace can communication, he/she just can't communicate in the workplace language. Unless there is a provision in your state that requires business to allow languages other than English in the workplace, your organization can require that all employees speak English well enough to understand training, policies, job assignments & instructions, emergency/disaster messages, etc. Search some areas on the HR Hero site about languages in the workplace. I'm sure I've seem some information here in the past.

    best wishes.
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  • HR IN ALHR IN AL 37 Posts
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    Thanks for everyone's input. We do not allow anyone to take applications off premises. We require all applicants to take a math test to assess that level of skill. I will definetly search this issue on the HR site.
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  • stilldazedstilldazed 640 Posts
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    You may find some helpful info at this dol.gov link. I haven't read through it, but there is some info on English only language requirements. If it doesn't work as a hyperlink, copy and paste it into the address line. The document is an EEOC handbook for employers.

    [url]http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/national-origin.html[/url]

    best wishes.


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