Workplace Diversity

By Jonathan Fairbank

J Fairbank is Editor-in-Chief of the FAIRBANK REPORT.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing a Southern California nursing home in federal court for requiring its staff to only speak English while on the job. If successful, the suit would tear the fabric that unites us as American workers and American citizens.

It's divisive enough to have certain naturally occuring cliques and alliances in the workplace. It would be devastating, in terms of team cohesion and morale, if language- and ethnic-based cliques and alliances were to be officially sanctioned as a matter of law. I don't care if an employer allows use of a foreign language in the workplace among his staff; however, he should not be compelled by the government to permit such practice, especially if the practice hurts teamwork and therefore business output.

Moreover, mandating multi-lingualism in the workplace undermines the country's efforts since the Brown decision in 1954 to desegregate and to become more inclusive.

One last point. We here in Southern California already live in de facto segregation: Asians tend to live in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, African-Americans in South Los Angeles, whites in South Orange County and the Westside of Los Angeles and Hispanics in East Los Angeles and San Bernardino County. The workplace is one of a few places left where different ethnic and cultural groups actually come together. Let's celebrate this diversity by breaking down old barriers instead of erecting new ones.