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10 Emp. Resp. & Rts. J. 1 (1997)

handle is hein.journals/emprrj10 and id is 1 raw text is: Employee Responsibilities and Rights Jouma, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1997

Managing in a Nuevo Mundo: Accommodating
Linguistic and Cultural Diversity Under Title VI
David C. Wyldl
This article examines a legal issue that is derivative of the increasingly multicultural
character of the American work force. The recent case of Garcia v. Spun Steak (1993,
1994) is illustrative of the challenge managers can face in dealing with cultural and
linguistic diversity in the workplace. Over time, there have been conflicting messages
in employment discrimination law as to the propriety of employer-imposed restrictions
on the use of languages other than English in the workplace. However, the basic
question involves the balancing of both the employer's right to manage the business
and the right to self-expression in the language of one's choice in the workplace.
Recommendations are made as to how each party's rights can be balanced under the
law. What will be seen is that in the nuevo mundo of work found at the edge of the
twenty-first century, the interests of both employers and employees may be best served
by policies favoring language promotion over language restrictions.
KEY WORDS: language restrictions; national origin discrimination; cultural diversity; demographic
change.
INTRODUCTION
America is living through a cultural revolution-one brought about through
the power of demographic change. This demographic megatrend-found in the
changing composition of the American population-will cause innumerable changes
in American society and the American workplace.
One of the principal findings of the 1990 census is that the very makeup of
America is changing as the United States becomes more culturally diverse, with
Hispanic-Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and other ethnic mi-
norities gaining in their respective shares of the American population (O'Hare,
1993). These changes are both dramatic and pronounced. The 1990 census revealed
that the number of Asian-Americans roughly doubled (to 7.3 million) from the 1980
count (The Top 10 Findings from the 1990 Census (So Far), 1991), while the
'Southeastern Louisiana University, Department of Management, Box 350, Hammond, Louisiana
70402-0350.

0892-754597/35-0001512.5010 0 1997 Pienum Publishing Corporation

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