Language in the workplace

If anyone is interested in reading more about the Sephora lawsuit mentioned in class, http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=89889&page=2 there's an article.

I can understand both sides of the story. If I spoke something other than English as my first language, I would be prone to using it with others that spoke that language as well. But I've also been on the other side of the table. If anyone has ever gotten their nails done in Buffalo (I don't know if this is true for elsewhere as well), most of the salons are run by Vietnamese families (I think they're Vietnamese, correct me if I'm wrong). The employees frequently speak in Vietnamese and look at the different customers and laugh, all the while nobody knows what is being said. This is obviously going to make customers uncomfortable. Of course if native English speakers are running a business, then they're going to have issues as well. As the article I linked to says,

"With the growing number of non-English speakers in the work force, experts say many employers worry about workers using another language to insult or harass others. They want to know what's being said in the workplace.

"From the employer's perspective, the employer is saying, 'I'm under pressure to make sure I don't discriminate … but I'm going to have problems with productivity and collegiality if these groups go off and speak their own language,' " says Merrick Rossein, a law professor who specializes in workplace discrimination at the City University of New York's School of Law in Queens."

I don't necessarily agree that it's right that people shouldn't be allowed to speak their own language, but if it's going to make customers and employees uncomfortable, then we need to find some sort of solution to reconcile the two.

(Sorry if this is formatted weird, I'm having problems making blogger cooperate.)

Victoria Rader - Post 7