Posted: March 11th, 2022
The call hiring center hiring policy may violate Title VII
Employment Law
The call hiring center hiring policy may violate Title VII if adopted to exclude persons of a certain national origin and is not related to job performance. This is especially so if the person’s accent does not affect their ability to communicate in English successfully. According to Title VII, it is unlawful to discriminate individuals based on their national origin, birthplace, race, culture, religion, linguistic features (common to a specific group) or accent (Zimmer & Sullivan, 2017).
Employers are allowed to test the English proficiency (the ability to speak or write in the English language) of potential employees as long as it subjects all applicants to the same test. In the event that an employer denies a person an employment opportunity due to English proficiency, it is thus his/her duty to show a genuine, nondiscriminatory reason. Whether or not it is unlawful to utilize the English test will depend on the employee’s qualifications, the nature of the position, and if the worker’s level of English proficiency would negatively impact job performance, and if it seems that the policy was put in place to exclude people of a certain national origin (Taylor & Emir, 2015).
It is understandable that the caller center may require an English speaking workforce so as to ensure efficient delivery of service by preventing communication problems. However, this does not mean that people with an accent cannot speak perfect English. By indicating that a person “who sounds too much like a minority” is ineligible for the job, the call center manager indicates that people with accents are strictly prohibited even if their English proficiency was perfect. As such, the basis for excluding such individuals is not that the accent will negatively affect their job performance, but just because they speak with such an accent. And this is illegal.
References
Taylor, S., & Emir, A. (2015). Employment law: An introduction. Oxford University Press, USA.
Zimmer, M. J., & Sullivan, C. A. (2017). Cases and materials on employment discrimination. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
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The call hiring center hiring policy may violate Title VII
