ZENTELLA, Ana Celia
(Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center)
ENGLISH-ONLY ON THE JOB: A COMPARISON OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC ATTITUDES
TOWARDS THE RIGHT OF EMPLOYERS TO RESTRICT EMPLOYEE LANGUAGE RIGHTS
Laws that declare English the official language have been passed in towns,
cities, and states across the country over the last two decades, but the
negative repercussions of those laws are somewhat limited by exemptions
that allow governments to provide some essential services in languages
other than English [LOTEs]. The number of employer bans on LOTEs in the
workplace is also rising, but they are less widely known or debated
although they can cause serious economic and emotional hardship to speakers
of LOTES, since workers are personally threatened with the loss of their
livelihood. In New York City (NYC), Spanish is spoken at home by more than
25% of the population, and more Spanish speakers have been fired for
disobeying the boss's language injunction than any other group. I will
report on the results of a survey of attitudes, conducted in NYC,
concerning the right of employers to restrict the language of their
employees. The opinions of Latinos, African Americans, European Americans,
and Others will be compared and contrasted in terms of birthplace, home
language use, gender, and education. The results will be compared with the
interviewees' attitudes concerning Official English laws at the
governmental level, to determine whether the policies of employers and
those of governments are viewed in the same way.