Many employers prohibit workers from speaking languages other than English at work and even during lunch breaks.

In the melting pot that is New York, everyone has been in the uncomfortable position of being surrounded by people speaking a language that they do not understand.

“My American friends asked me to speak only English when they’re around. Otherwise, they feel uncomfortable," said Elena Boyeva, a marketing rep for Marketing Directors, one of New York's largest real estate marketing companies.

But at work, her knowledge of a second language is welcomed. Not all are as lucky, however.

Immigrants consider the rule prohibiting the speaking of a language other than English during the work day to be discriminatory and a violation of human rights. The number of court complaints concerning unjustifiably strict language rules has grown proportionally to the number of immigrants in the country. In 1990, 6.6 million people in the country did not speak English fluently. That figure has now grown to 11 million, almost equal to the number of undocumented immigrants. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recorded six times as many incidents of English-only discrimination than it did 10 years ago.

Employers explain this requirement as both a security consideration and a way of providing clients with the best possible service. To avoid accusations of discrimination, employers must prove that their reasons for establishing this requirement are justified. Generally, this rule is introduced only at service businesses and at companies employing low-paid workers.

“This rule has little chance of holding up in court,” warned Diana Johnston, general counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

In April, Flushing Manor Geriatric Center in New York agreed to pay $900,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing the center of discrimination in requiring employees to speak only English. The center prohibited Haitian workers from speaking Creole, but did not ban the languages of immigrants from other countries. The Haitians were not even allowed to speak their native language during breaks. The center was not able to prove that the rule was necessitated by its activities. Mark Wenger, the lawyer representing the center, maintained that language bans during breaks were not widely used.

Business owners have not limited themselves to controlling their workers. They also make requirements of clients.

“Speak English” announces a sign at the renowned Philadelphia restaurant, Geno's Steaks, evidently so that hungry customers do not have to stand idle in line.

All ambitious immigrants know that knowledge of English is the key to success in the United States. Those who have come here to make a quick buck or who, like a snail, have lazily settled into their communities are not too concerned with the language barrier. Russian immigrants have no problem with being required to speak English. As children we were taught: "When in Rome do like the Romans."

Additional information

An official language is the main language of the government and is used in legislation, official correspondence, legal proceedings, education, etc. Countries with many nationalities specify the official language in their constitutions. So governments that do not have a codified constitution are not considered to have an official language. The official language is usually the language spoken by the largest ethnic group in the country. Some countries have legislation requiring that official government documents must be printed in other languages as well.

The U.S. Constitution does not specify an official language; English is the first language by tradition, not by law. English is the official language in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii (alongside the Hawaiian language), Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana (alongside French), Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico (alongside Spanish), North Carolina, North Dakota, Puerto Rico (alongside Spanish), South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.