spanish speaking problems
sunshine state
31 Posts
How do you deal with employees that speak both English & Spanish equally well and they stand in the halls and speak Spanish loudly , disturbing English only employees. We are a non profit and the majority of our employees speak English. We have Spanish speaking employees that refuse to speak English all the time causing a disturbance. They have been asked to refrain from speaking so loud in Spanish and continue to do so. We do not want a law suit reguarding this problem- freedom of speach or discrimination- but we do need to do something. The English speaking only asked for the Spanish/English to please speak English that this is America and were told to get on the other side of the building where the English speaking people are. The Spanish do not realize that when they are speaking Spanish that they raise their voices and disturb others trying to work. Any ideas??????
Comments
If employees want to speak only Spanish (or any other language) and it is not interfering with your business, that is their choice and you cannot stop them. We have many Hispanic employees in our manufacturing facility and they all speak Spanish to each other because it is more comfortable for them. Until English is designated as the official language of the USA, there isn't much you can do.
Unless you have a legitimate business reason, you cannot prevent employees from speaking another language in your facility. Your offended employees will have to adjust.
Speaking loudly is another issue. Disrupting employees is a legitimate problem which you can address. Just make sure you don't bring up the language in the conversation. Address the volume and disruption only. It may be that it only happens when they are speaking Spanish, but that is neither here nor there. Addressing anything but volume and disruption will get you into trouble.
One more thing. It is possible they are speaking just as loudly when they speak English, only no one has noticed or been offended. Be careful that this is not the situation. There have been lawsuits about limiting language in the workplace, and only those employers with legitimate business reasons were able to avoid heavy penalties.
Good luck!
Nae
I agree with everyone else who has advised you to address the issue of volume & disruption only. Don't go anywhere near the issue of language!