¿Se Habla Inglés?

In the Virginia State Senate Ken Cuccinelli (R, Fairfax) has introduced a bill allowing employers to fire workers who do not speak English, exempting the employers from paying higher unemployment taxes stemming from such firings, and denying unemployment benefits to workers fired under this provision (see Washington Post article Bill Targets Workers Who Speak No English).

This is a lousy bill on many levels.

As the Post article highlights, Virginia employers can already fire employees who work in positions that require English skills but who cannot effectively speak the language.  This bill doesn't give such employers any new rights that they don't already have.  On this score, the bill is not needed.  But this bill is much broader, allowing employers to fire any non-English-speaking workers irrespective of whether English-language skills are required for the job. 

Secondly, this bill contributes to a growing anti-immigrant atmosphere.  Language skills highly correlate to race and national origin, two factors employers cannot use in hiring or firing decisions.  As such, this bill would allow employers to use language as a thinly veiled proxy for firing based on racial or national origin bias.  (And who determines if the employee speaks English at an adequate level?  The employer?  That hardly seems fair.)

Thirdly, this bill would deny unemployment benefits to workers fired for their inability to speak English.  Legal residents - both citizens and non-citizens - would be denied the economic safety net of unemployment benefits under this proposal.  Not only would such a person lose their job and income, but also a major source of government assistance - only for their inability to speak English (not for poor job performance, mind you).  How is that good for promoting the upward mobility of the immigrant working class?

Additionally, this bill provides cover for employers who engage in sloppy hiring practices (if you're firing someone for not speaking English, why did you hire them in the first place?).  In the article Cuccinelli claims he's coming to the defense of the business sector. 

Cuccinelli, who says companies are increasingly hiring people without face-to-face interviews, said he is just trying to protect employers from paying higher taxes because of unemployment claims.

Hiring without face-to-face interviews?  Presuming such hirings are based on telephone interviews, how do you not assess their language skills on the phone?  And if a telephone interview is not even involved, why is the government in the business of insuring such sloppy hiring practices against future unemployment tax increases? 

As it is currently written the tax code rewards companies who hire and keep their employees.  That is, the tax code provides a modest penalty to companies who fire workers - such firings could result in a higher unemployment tax for the employer.  Lets call it the Firing Tax.  Cuccinelli's bill would cancel the Firing Tax, reducing whatever incentive might exist for employers to be more selective in the hiring process, allowing unscrupulous employers to hire and fire without concern for taxes or the welfare of the employee.  Such a bill, especially when targeted at linguistic (i.e., ethnic and racial) minorities, is irresponsible.

If you are a resident of Virginia, please contact your State Senator and Delagate and tell them that Senator Cuccinelli's bill is lousy.

UPDATE: I posted some slight clarifications, and text of the proposed bill, in a new post: English Only in the Workplace

Comments

[PS]

While I believe that any immigrant should make an effort to acquire the dominant language for his own good, we all know that some people and people from certain countries have a harder time learning a new language, at least learning it with an accent that is understandable to many. [Just ask the members of the RC church in my town about their current priest, who is obviously a well educated man who came from a country in which all educated people learn English from little up.]

Linguistically, this bill doesn't fly, as you alluded to. Which "English" would be used as the standard English by which people would be judged? We've all met, I'm sure, people from other parts of the US, native born and schooled, who have accents or words that are not understandable to our region's ears.

Yes a thinly veiled attempt at _________ by someone who doesn't know much about language or language acquisition. I hope some of the other legislators are wiser!