SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The Language Rights Project, a joint project of the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC), is launching a multilingual campaign to inform employees and employers about their rights and responsibilities under a new California law that prohibits "speak-English-only" rules in the workplace. By enacting the new law, which took effect on January 1 2002, the California legislature recognized that "speak-English-only" rules are discriminatory and have an adverse impact on protected groups.

"Even though 40% of Californians speak a language other than English at home, many employers still impose rules that require their employees to speak only English at work," said Donya Fernandez, Language Rights Project attorney with LAS-ELC. "That is why we think this law is so important and that is why we are launching this campaign today."

The Language Rights Project is writing letters <link to letter> to chambers of commerce and human resources organizations across the state to inform employers of their obligations under the new law. The Project is also working with unions to inform employees about their rights under the law. The campaign will also include "Know Your Rights" brochures and posters in Spanish, Chinese and English, guidelines for employers on the new law, and public service announcements.

"Through this broad statewide campaign, we hope to inform California employers and employees that "speak-English-only" rules may violate California law," said Jayashri Srikantiah, staff attorney of the ACLU-NC. "By placing a heavy burden on limited-English-proficient or bilingual workers, "speak-English-only" rules often hurt employee morale, create racial tensions, and reduce workplace efficiency."

The new law, which began as Assembly Bill 800, authored by Assemblyman Herb Wesson (D-Los Angeles), was passed in recognition of the fact that "speak-English-only" rules can be discriminatory because of the close connection between a person's language and their ethnicity.

The Language Rights Project works to combat language-based discrimination in the workplace and other sectors of society, and to ensure equal access to government services. The Language Rights Information Line (1-800-864-1664) offers free legal advice, representation, and referrals in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese. The Language Rights Project is a joint project of the LAS-ELC and the ACLU of Northern California.