Is this legal? I thought I lived in America?

towanda

You are trying to get a job that requires you to be able to talk to everyone and, I'll bet that many of their customers speak only Spanish. It is also a way that many companies only hire the nationality of their choice and it is thinly veiled discrimination. I live where the Mexican population is way over 90%. You had best speak Spanish to get a job here. I have found my opening is that most of the folks here speak Spanish but cannot write a decent business letter in English. And now I run a very good English only spoken bookkeeping service and I find a lot more folks speak English if they need your help. They should have put that in the ad and it is suspicious that they didn't. Move on, you don't want to work there anyway.

ignant_slob

Not illegal. A description of the job requirements posted in an ad doesn't have to list all of the qualities they are looking for. Job interviews exist to narrow down the candidates applying for a position, one process of it usually being to further look for specific abilities the applicant might possess which the job requires.

Sorry you feel you were mislead. I don't blame you since this seems like a critical quality they were searching for, and you basically wasted your time applying and interviewing for a job you had no hope of getting because you didn't know this going in.

Zeltar

Yes, this is legal. It's a qualification for the job. It's no different then requiring you know how to type, can take dictation, use email, use a word processor, or use a spreadsheet. Bilingual is a qualification for the job you applied.

Melissa

It is not illegal.
There are a lot of people who don't speak English and many companies want to make sure to have a certain number of bilingual staff members in order to serve those customers who do not speak english.

batraylover

Unfortunately, it's not illegal. Many companies are only hiring bilingual employees because they deal with a large number of customers who only speak Spanish. Like it or not, the United States of America does not have a national language (don't believe me, look it up, I was shocked to find that out). Because of this, we still are required to cater to people who speak other languages who decide they want to be catered to.

If you have ever received voting materials in the mail in English and looked at the other offerings, you will see they offer voting materials, here in the United States of America in more languages than I knew even existed, lol. Also, many government agencies now require you to press one for Spanish and two for English. Additionally, some customer service lines only take customer calls in Spanish, and give you a second number to call if you need English, instead of the other way around...all of this, still in America.

The fact of the matter is that it is not fair, to those who speak English, but there is nothing that we can do about it either. Until the government decides that learning English is a requirement of becoming a United States Citizen, there will always be companies that will only hire bilingual employees. If you want to be able to qualify for good paying jobs with high profile American companies, the best advice I can offer you is to take courses in Spanish, and become certified in basic Spanish, it will make your resume that much more appealing to companies and keep you from being treated the way that you were treated this time around. While it may seem like discrimination, it's not legally even if it seems that way morally.

RaiderHater

Sad, but true. I don't believe there is anything illegal here. However, I am going to show your questions to my kids tonight and explain to them that THIS is why I want them to excel in Spanish in school as well.

Good luck

Judy

No, it's not illegal. And the pay could be higher because of the bilingual requirement. Since there are so many Spanish speaking people in the US, being able to speak Spanish is a bona fide requirement of many customer service type jobs. Might not be totally fair, but it's real.

Williespliff

As far as I'm concerned, the company sees opportunity serving people who speak more than one language because they will have access to more customers. In the end, they want people with the skills that will help their bottom line, and you don't have that skill. This isn't a question keeping a job from someone for what are more or less cosmetic reasons like race or gender. It is about abilities, skills and education. If you don't have the skills to build a house, would you expect to be given a contract to build a house? If you can only serve a portion of a companies target customers, would you expect them to hire you?It is a pain, but learn that language!

Jennifer

Its legal but they really should have put it in the job description. I'm sorry about that. Sounds like a downer.

Openly Straight

I agree with you.. I refuse to press one for English. The immigration laws clearly state that all immigrants are required to read, write and speak basic English. You can see how much that is enforced. Anyway, they should have specified in the job listing that this was a bi-lingual position. You can't really do anything about it, unfortunately.

taifallos

Yeah, unfortunatly it is legal. It may not be in the written job description, but if and when you work your way up any ladder when it comes to employment you need to be bilingual at least or you'll lose you're job pretty quick. They should have put it in the job description/requirements, but sad to say no it's legal what she did and it's not discrimination. I would just say yes, and tell her you're "brushing up" on your spanish or french or something. Sometimes depending on the organization, they will get funding for a position, but only if the applicant meets all the requirements or else funding could be pulled. So there's a lot of different things that play into it.
Godd luck, hope you find a great job though who will appreciate you're skills!

Oh and by the way, America has nothing to do with it. If you go anywhere, India, Ukraine, China, it would be an asset and a preference to hire someone who speaks either more than one language or a different dialect.

fruity_cutie1992

I'm pretty sure it's legal. Although the title should have specifically stated that they needed someone who is bilingual. Most southern border states (like Texas!) need bilingual employees.

shipwreck

If they need someone bilingual and you aren't you won't be hired. Not knowing something or not being able to do a job isn't a protected class. They would hire you without regard to race, gender or nation origin or age but not if you can't do what they need done.
I know two women who learned Russian to land jobs. One had to interpret contract and the other taught Russian in the public schools they couldn't have done the jobs unless they learned the languages, they were American so already knew English.
I worked a job where most of clients Russian or Chinese and almost all were from some other country. I only speak English but most would bring children or friends to help them. A coworker from the Ukraine helped some of the Russians or Ukrainians and I both replaced and was replaced by a women who were natives of China. That company would have been smart to require everyone to be bilingual but they didn't.

MeeMo432

I understand where you're coming from, but it's not illegal because it's a matter of qualifications. They certainly should have included that in the job description, though. That's biggie.

And for the idiot who said most people in America speak English "now." Uh, when did most people in American NOT speak English. Actually fewer people speak English now than ever before because we cater to those who are too lazy to learn. It's funny, I wouldn't move to Mexico, continue speaking English, and expect Mexicans cater to me, but that's how it works here. Funny how that is.

rtfm

Yes, of course it's legal! They may have inadvertently left out a sentence from the job description stating that a bilingual speaker was required, but that doesn't make it illegal.

Many of us do speak English here now, you're right. Some of us don't. Does that mean nobody should be allowed to use a cell phone unless they can pass a language test?

Leah H

i would say thats discrimination......... it shouldn't matter what type of person you like and its none of their business

KryptonGod

It's a little too late for me to chime in on this but since when does EVERYONE in America speak English only? Last time I checked there are dozens of languages spoken on a daily basis. This country was built by people who didn't speak English so that argument goes right out the window. Get your hands on Rosetta Stone and learn to speak Spanish. You'll have hundreds of jobs available to you

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