Law queries

Two of our members have just received a letter from their manager warning them for speaking to one another in Gujarati. The letter says that they must only speak English while at work. Our members are very upset at this. We want to know if we can challenge the manager.

There are two potential ways to challenge this action.

By imposing a rule, which forbids individuals to speak a language other than English, the employer is imposing a requirement or condition that is detrimental to ethnic minority workers. This would amount to indirect race discrimination.

There are circumstances where the law permits indirect discrimination provided there is a justification for the imposition of the requirement and condition. But this manager has not provided any.

You may also be able to use the Human Rights Act 1998. Lawyer Michael Ford, in a book published by the Institute of Employment Rights, suggests that the right to a private life, guaranteed under the 1998 Act, includes "the right to private spaces at work - spaces in which workers can develop their relationships with each other."

More information: Race Relations Act 1976, section 1(1)(b); Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights, Art 8; Human Rights at Work, Ed K Ewing, Institute of Employment Rights