One employer recently hit the headlines after it directed its Eastern European staff to “speak English only to colleagues”. It said the requirement is based purely on health and safety grounds. Is
this discriminatory or perfectly justified?
Published 21.10.2011
A group of workers has started to speak Punjabi at work. Other staff feel they’re being excluded from conversations and are being talked about in their presence. Is it acceptable to ask your workers
to communicate in English whilst at work?
Published 02.06.2006
English is the second language for 2.5 million workers. But can you insist that they don’t utter a foreign word at work, or will that be racial discrimination? And what about disciplinary proceedings
- do they have to be in English too?
Published 09.09.2009
A Polish employee, who was told by her employer not to speak using her first language, has just been awarded £7,000 by the tribunal. Does this ruling mean you can’t insist on English-only in your
workplace?
Published 19.11.2013
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that an employer who told a Russian employee to speak English only in its workplace did not commit race discrimination. Why was this employer’s rule OK?
Published 15.01.2016
A criminal court recently ruled that the “F-word” is “now so commonplace it can no longer be considered offensive”. But what happens if some employees are uncomfortable with it in a workplace
setting. What should you do then?
Published 14.12.2011
An employee who was told to “never speak Polish” - even to fellow Polish colleagues - has been awarded over £5,000 by the tribunal. Was it the employer’s rule or something else that attracted this
level of award?
Published 15.02.2016
You recently interviewed someone but, due to their accent, it was difficult to understand what they were saying at times. This is a concern but can you use their accent as grounds to reject the
application?
Published 31.05.2016
It’s a fact of life that some employees use bad language in the workplace. But what if it includes religious references? Could a devoutly religious colleague claim this is unlawful harassment?
Published 09.09.2014
For many employers, Secret Santa is a workplace tradition. However, without wishing to sound like Scrooge, this activity may cause some problems. So what can you do to ensure that you don’t have any
festive dramas?
Published 16.11.2012