In one recent court case, an employee complained that she was regularly harassed by co-workers because of her national origin.

She was originally from Mexico and spoke Spanish as her first language. Other employees had problems with her limited English — she claimed they would often respond to her comments by yelling, “What? What?” or “I do not understand you.”

The woman complained to her boss about how she was being treated, but no action was ever taken. The manager’s reaction: They were just voicing legitimate complaints about her communication skills.

But she didn’t see it that way — she sued the company for allowing a hostile work environment.

The court agreed. The employee demonstrated she knew enough English to do her job. Her co-workers clearly weren’t making legitimate complaints, they were taunting and harassing her.

The company failed to have the case thrown out and will now face a costly jury trial.

The lesson for managers: If it looks like employees are giving someone a hard time because of anything related to race, religion, gender or ethnicity, it’s your duty to step in and stop it.

Cite: Navarro v. U.S. Tsubaki, Inc.

The Virginia Legislature is currently considering a bill that would allow companies to ask all employees to speak English at work.

So far, federal courts have ruled that blanket language policies are discriminatory and English can only be required when there’s a business necessity — for example, when workers have to communicate with English-speaking customers, or to improve employee safety.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II, says its purpose is to allow companies to fire workers who don’t learn English without having to pay increased unemployment taxes.

The bill has a lot of opposition, and even if it passes, it wouldn’t protect employers in Virginia from federal courts and the EEOC.

We’ll keep you posted on the bill, and the activity of similar bills in other states.