A Bill has been approved in the US state of Tennessee that allows employers to require employees to speak English on the job, reports the Tennessean website. But is it legitimate for UK employers to adopt an English-only policy?
The law will allow employers in Tennessee to require employees to speak English in the workplace when there is a "legitimate business necessity", such as safety or efficiency. However, concerns have been raised that employers will take the laws to mean that they can require English to be spoken in far more situations than the new rules allow. For example, the legislation specifically states that workers cannot be required to speak English while on a break.
The principles are much the same in UK law. To avoid potential race discrimination claims, employers should ensure that an English-only policy can be justified as being a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate business aim. Requiring employees to speak English to customers and colleagues in a work context will of course be justified, but employers will have a hard time justifying a blanket rule prohibiting casual conversations or conversations during break times in other languages.
The XpertHR FAQ section provides a fuller explanation of how employers should approach having English-only rules with caution.
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