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Alarmed that a professional golf organization proposed excluding competitors who don't speak English, the state Senate acted Thursday to prohibit businesses in California from discriminating against customers, including refusal of service, based on the language they use.
The proposed law has sparked heated debate throughout the state as well as some anti-immigrant calls to the office of its author, Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), who has had his own experience with discrimination.
Yee proposed the law after the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. last year proposed, and then backed down from, a policy that would have suspended golfers who do not speak adequate English. The policy was based on the premise that language fluency in speeches and media interviews was critical to the sport's promotion.
Does this mean someone who speaks English cannot be discriminated against by employers with their ads stating that applicants must be fluent in Spanish?
No one should be discriminated against based on race or ethnicity (they SHOULD be based on legal status, however).
That said, I think it is perfectly acceptable to "discriminate" based on language fluency due to the fact that our primary language is English and trying to force so many different languages is heading down a very complex path.
If you are an employer, you should not have to scramble around to try to find employees that speak other languages to accomodate non-English-speaking customers. You should have the right to refuse service and the right to not profit from the lost service.
No one should be discriminated against based on race or ethnicity.
People SHOULD be discriminated against based on legal status, however. Furthermore, I think it is perfectly acceptable to "discriminate" based on language fluency due to the fact that our primary language is English and trying to force so many different languages is heading down a very complex and wrong road.
If you are an employer, you should not have to scramble around to try to find employees that speak other languages to accomodate non-English-speaking customers. You should have the right to refuse service and the right to not profit from the lost service.
I completely agree. If you have a furniture store and you get five calls in a row that are in Spanish, Vietnamese and so on you should be able to just hang up. What, they are going to sue you because you can't freaking understand them?
Does this mean someone who speaks English cannot be discriminated against by employers with their ads stating that applicants must be fluent in Spanish?
I doubt it. It’s only discrimination when it involves those who do not speak English.
Why not just advocate a University graduation without 'grades discrimination'.....or an airline pilot's exam without 'skills discrimination'.....or license lawyers with no legal skills....That way, we'd REALLY be 'fair and inclusive' to everyone, and not just an 'elite few'.
If a business owner can't understand what a customer WANTS.....and if the customer can't EXPLAIN it....how do we know that 'discrimination' is involved, anyway? Why don't we just give the customer what we THINK he wants, and let him pay an amount he THINKS is appropriate? Who needs a common language, anyway? It MIGHT even work out in interesting ways.....I mean, really, if there's no communication, how do we know who's a customer, and who wants to ROB the place? (I know...CUSTOMERS and ROBBERS dress differently...THAT'S how )...
I doubt it. It’s only discrimination when it involves those who do not speak English.
Funny how we're discussing 'discrimination' by the small businessmen of California in matters of language..yet here we are, discussing it on a forum which INSISTS our posts be written in English, and ONLY in English.
We're ALL just bunch of xenophobes at heart, I guess...and we'll never know of the contributions which MIGHT have come from those wishing to post their thoughts in Mandarin, or Russian, or Arabic.
Our loss, I guess. At LEAST we're able to allow for some REALLY BAD English !!
I hope California pays for this. This will make that state even more of a pain for conducting business than it already is. No wonder white and black Americans are leaving the state while Hispanics keep pouring in.
this was set in place to protect workers. funny you quote the golf part and not the more likely reason. what happened was that some folks who worked in a nursing home with old folk tried to assist these old people. in their native language. you know lots of old people revert to earlier times. well these workers were reprimanded and disciplined for speaking a language other than english to these folks. thats not very fair now is it?
it comes down to workers rights.
if i can help someone, speaking swahili, spanish or swedish, then i will. i shouldnt be punished for being lutilingual. in most socities being able to speak different languages is a very useful and sought after trait.
I hope California pays for this. This will make that state even more of a pain for conducting business than it already is. No wonder white and black Americans are leaving the state while Hispanics keep pouring in.
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