Discrimination for having an accent

[kknightsbridge]

I understand that is illegal to ask questions about national origin (what kind of accent do you have?), but can the employer argue that having an accent may interfere with the performance on the job on a computer consulting position? can the employer set up standards on this issue... Employees with no accent preferred?
Do you know of any cases like this at the federal or state level?

I appeciate your comments...

 

[Ex HR Guy]

I'm not a lawyer, but I sure know that most computer people we employed had accents and that's great -- all we cared about is getting the code written right!

 

[Attorney_Replogle]

First of all understand that I am an attorney licensed only in California, so if you are in another state, your laws are likely to be different. So this advice is of a general nature only. In general an employer can certainly set up internal rules, such as the ability for its personnel to communicate effectively with customers. This is obviously a business necessity. In your case the employer could say that they do not have any discriminatory bias toward your race or ethnic origin, instead they find that your particular accent is too difficult for their customers to understand. Whether this is true or not is the rub. In trying to determine if a particular person's accent is too difficult to understand, by the very nature such a determination will be very subjective. So the bottom line is that you should seek an attorney in your area (see this web site for a listing) and consult with him.

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Mark B. Replogle