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Hiring laws California REQUIRING bilingual

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kane5150

Junior Member
California : What are the laws on REQUIRING bilingual for being hired into a position within California?: I have more then 15 years experience in the maintenance field, and a disabled veteran (ADA) , but yet and being passed over for employment in the state of California in the commercial / residential maintenance employment market solely due to the fact that I do not speak Spanish. Is this / can this be legal? :mad:What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
It not only can be legal, it is legal. There is nothing illegal about requiring an employee to be bilingual if there is a business necessity for the second language. After all, anyone of any nationality can learn to speak Spanish.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
What cbg said. Yes, it's legal. Speaking additional languages is a skill, just like any other job skill, and can be learned by anyone. In those areas of the country where there is a sizable Hispanic population, requiring English and Spanish speaking skills is fairly common - and legal.
 

TigerD

Senior Member
I once was also rejected for a job. The application asked if I was bi-lingual and I checked yes. My interviewer asked me how longer I had spoken Spanish. I told her I don't speak Spanish. she accused me of lying on the app. I told her I spoke German, French and Arabic. So she says, "But you don't speak Spanish so you are not bi-lingual."

I feel your pain. But I wanted to be competitive in later employment so I took the time to learn Spanish. It isn't that hard to learn. You can do it.

DC
 

pattytx

Senior Member
debtcollector, get out of the debt collecting business and go to work for the UN. Or the CIA; they need Arabic speakers. :D
 

Isis1

Senior Member
I once was also rejected for a job. The application asked if I was bi-lingual and I checked yes. My interviewer asked me how longer I had spoken Spanish. I told her I don't speak Spanish. she accused me of lying on the app. I told her I spoke German, French and Arabic. So she says, "But you don't speak Spanish so you are not bi-lingual."

I feel your pain. But I wanted to be competitive in later employment so I took the time to learn Spanish. It isn't that hard to learn. You can do it.

DC
that is just awful. since when was bi-lingual ONLY spanish and english??? :mad::mad:
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
My interviewer asked me how longer I had spoken Spanish. I told her I don't speak Spanish. she accused me of lying on the app. I told her I spoke German, French and Arabic. So she says, "But you don't speak Spanish so you are not bi-lingual."

.

DC
Well, technically, she was right. You don't speak two languages; you speak four. Therefore you are not bi-lingual; you are quadralingual.

But she's an idiot to think that if it isn't Spanish, it doesn't count.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
dc, in hindsight hopefully you're glad not to be working for/with someone that stupid. Sheesh. :rolleyes:
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
I've had to pass on applying for more than one job because the employer is looking for someone who's bilingual. If a job requires someone who can speak more than one language because their clients speak Cantonese, Tagalog, Russian, etc., what's the illegality about that?
 

TigerD

Senior Member
debtcollector, get out of the debt collecting business and go to work for the UN. Or the CIA; they need Arabic speakers. :D
There are some things that even a debt collector will not stoop to.

Given my personal opposition to our nation's repeated acts of aggression to nations around the world, I refuse to participate in the process. We have deployed soldiers to Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Africa, Vietnam and a few other nations without a single declaration of war. That is not legal. It is not right and it is the reason so much of the world doesn't like us. When we are attacked, we should formally declare war and completely destroy our enemy. These ongoing little conflicts do nothing but waste the lives of our soldiers and harm our nation in fact and in history. As a matter of national policy, we shouldn't care who is the leader of some scrap of dirt on the other side of the world. We shouldn't interfere in the internal politics of any other nation state. The fact is that our foreign policy of the 70 years has created the international morass through which we now wade. For example: Iran. We aided the Shaw in his coup against the democratically elected prime minister. Then we supported him and his son for decades of oppressive internal policies. The result was the Islamic revolution, almost a decade of war with Iraq during which we supported Saddam Hussein and his used of weapons of mass destruction against Iran. Then we entered a decade of conflict against Hussein followed by an additional decade of internal strife and several thousand dead American soldiers. All because we came out of the Roosevelt era with the attitude that we can do whatever we wanted without consequence.

There are always consequences.

In 2000, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright stated: "In 1953 the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran's popular Prime Minister, Mohammed Massadegh. The Eisenhower Administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons; but the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development. And it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs."

For our meddling in Iran, we have paid in blood and will continue to pay in blood for years to come.

I served in Desert Storm when I was younger. I have no interest in furthering the actions that have led us to this point.

As for the UN, an organization founded in the ideals of peace. The five permanent members of the Security Council (U.S, UK, France, Russia, and China) are the five largest arms dealers in the world. The UN doesn't actually work to stop local or regional conflicts because it would disrupt the economic well-being of the permanent members.

In 1966 Muhammad Ali said, "I ain't got no quarrel with the VietCong." He was right. If Congress can't set aside their squabbles to declare war, the issue probably isn't serious enough to go to war.

That's why I will not consider either the UN or CIA. Frankly neither is respectable nor credible enough for a debt collector to join them.

DC

PS Sorry if I got a little long winded.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Its sad when a US citizen is denied a job do to not speaking another Countries language, this is America after all, when people come to the US they should be the ones to speak English not the other way around Anyone can learn to speak English . this is America after all, OR is it!!!!
:mad:
This thread is from 2010 and belongs in the archives for reference purposes only. If you have a legal question, please start your own thread. Thanks.
 

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