Court Opinions

State Laws

US Code

US Constitution

California Government Code Section 12951

Legal Research Home > California Lawyer > Government Code > California Government Code Section 12951

(a) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer,
as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 12926, to adopt or enforce a
policy that limits or prohibits the use of any language in any
workplace, unless both of the following conditions exist:
   (1) The language restriction is justified by a business necessity.

   (2) The employer has notified its employees of the circumstances
and the time when the language restriction is required to be observed
and of the consequences for violating the language restriction.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, "business necessity" means
an overriding legitimate business purpose such that the language
restriction is necessary to the safe and efficient operation of the
business, that the language restriction effectively fulfills the
business purpose it is supposed to serve, and there is no alternative
practice to the language restriction that would accomplish the
business purpose equally well with a lesser discriminatory impact.

Last modified: January 12, 2009