Two employees were suspended for a day for conversing in Spanish in Albuquerque according to Gawker. The two reportedly worked at a Whole Food Market store and the company follows a "English-only" policy.
"I couldn't believe it. All we did was say we didn't believe the policy was fair," Bryan Baldizan, one of the suspended workers, told the Associated Press. "We only talk Spanish to each other about personal stuff, not work."
Gawker reports the company released a statement justifying the suspension and the English-only policy by claiming Whole Food Market "believes in having a uniform form of communication."
"Our policy states that all English speaking Team Members must speak English to customers and other Team Members while on the clock," said Ben Friedland, the company's Rocky Mountain Region Executive Marketing Coordinator. "Team Members are free to speak any language they would like during their breaks, meal periods, and before and after work."
According to NBC Latino, Whole Foods Market spokeswoman Libba Letton said the policy was put in place to ensure customers were not offended by employees speaking a language they couldn't understand.
Gawker reported Letton initially stood by the suspension on the grounds that the employees violated the English-only policy, but later said the employees' "rude and disrespectful behavior both in an office and in the store in front of customers' is the reason they were suspended.
A petition has been initiated in response to the company's English-only policy. The petitions calls for Whole Foods to revere their "anti-diversity policy and permit employees to communicate with each other in the language they know best." The petition currently has over a thousand signatures. Click here to view the petition.
