An employer was going to hire me, but their supervisor said they wanted someone who could speak Spanish. While language is not a protected class of people under Title VII, it does seem to me to be a bit racial regarding ethnic background. The hiring manager wanted me to work for the company, but the VP said no because I only speak English. Is is right for a company not to hire someone when they do not specifically state before the interview that they want a bi-lingual person? Had they done so, I would not have taken the time to apply and interview for the position.
Answer:
It depends. Does the job require someone to know both English and Spanish? If so, then the employer is in the right.
It should have been in the job description, if it wasnt I would take that and the info they gave you and drive to the closet lawyer to deal with this, it dont sound right.... good luck tho
yes it is legal. Not publishing the requirement is rude, but nothing more.
No.
Many jobs require someone who is bi-lingual, just as many jobs require employees with certain degrees of education.
.
i can understand your frustration. IF the job requires you to be bilingual -- like its a social services job and you would deal a lot of spanish speakers it would make sense and you don't really have a case.
but if the job is random and speaking spanish isn't necessary for it than i think you were discriminated to a certain extent.
If there employer can reasonably justify this as a requirement for the job, than you have almost no chance in a lawsuit. If not, you can possibly claim disparate impact because more Hispanics can speak Spanish than other groups, but I sure wouldn't take this one on a contingency fee. Besides, non-Hispanics can learn Spanish.
They should have adverted for bi-lingual. I would have cursed out the vp and told him where to shove the job.
of course it is legal to only hire someone who is bi-lingual if that's part of the job. that seems a little like asking "is it legal to deny me employment as an English teacher just because I cannot read". Now it is there fault for not putting it on the job description. If they had have hired you without telling you this and then later fired you because you were not bilingual, then you could have a case. It sucks that they wasted your time like that, but they didn't break any laws.
Yeah, english speakers can learn to speak spanish, but why should they have to in their own country? Immigrants should have to learn the language of the country they immigrate to.
What we should do is force our "lawmakers" to declare an official language and stick to it. Or are english speaking Americans to be second class citizens in their own country?
In your case, you probably don't have any legal claim, but the employer should be ashamed of himself for wasting your time. I imagine that there are jobs out there that genuinely should be held by bilingual persons, but unless the employer can make a case for necessity, I think that such a requirement should be illegal.
To be legal, it needs to be a BFOQ, a "bona fide occupational requirement".
That's gonna be a tough case for them to make if they didn't specify that until after your interview, but I'm not sure winning such a case gets you anywhere.
I had an application with the same question and I answered yes I'm bi-lingual. I got the job and on the second day of employment a Hispanic individual approached me in the store and I had to call the manager. Since my second language is German I didn't understand that guy at all.
My answer in the application was correct since I am bi-lingual.
It is legal only if the employer can justify a need for you to speak Spanish.
If you would be performing customer-service for a Spanish speaking population - then it would be justified. However for an accounting position it would be hard to justify.
Most states are "at will" employment states. That means employers can hire and fire as they wish. Lack of required skills needed to perform the job duties is a valid reason not to hire somebody for a particular job. However, they might be willing to hire you for a different position; provided they have another job opening that does not require a bi-lingual individual.
In the mean time, go to the public library and start getting language tapes and books on speaking Spanish. That way you can be ready for the next job opening.
There's one fact that you put forward which is rather puzzling and that's the comment where you said...."The hiring manager wanted me to work for the company"
If that's an accurate appraisal of the situation, it seems strange that a hiring manager would be overruled as it would seem that a hiring manager ought to have known if a bilingual requirement was in place.
There's no prohibition against setting a bilingual requirement if there's advance notice given which ought to have been the case here. That the hiring manager was ready to offer you the job suggests that the need did not exist.
Is it possible that, after the interviews, they got some bad references? I pose this question because of another posting that you made describing a job difficulty and just wondered if there's some kind of tie-in between the two.
Without more facts, this situation does not rise to the level generally warranting bringing any kind of action.
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