I’m afraid you don’t have any real legal recourse or grounds to discipline UNLESS the employees’ refusal to speak English with English-speaking co-workers is creating an intolerable safety risk. Thus, for example, a Spanish-speaking supervisor in charge of confined space entry would have to speak English with crew members entering the space who don’t speak Spanish.
In extreme cases, I’ve actually seen lawsuits claiming that use of native language rather than English (or other prevailing language in the workplace) is nationality discrimination. See, https://hrinsider.ca/winners-losers-is-speaking-in-a-foreign-language-nationality-discrimination-against-english-speakers/ But I don’t think you want to go down the litigation route. I think the best solution is to get everybody in the room and work things out. The workers who are complaining should explain their concerns to their co-workers and to the extent the problem is creating a safety or productivity risk, you should seek to mediate a mutually acceptable solution. Example: You can speak any language you want EXCEPT when performing X,Y, and Z function which requires everybody to use the same language–English.
Hope that helps and pls. let me know what happens. I’m sure you’re not the only one having these kinds of issues and any lessons you can share would be much appreciated. Glenn
