We have a situation here in a manufacturing environment, I would like some input on. I'm not sure what to recommend or try next.

We recently re-org'ed and are now requiring employees who wish to take on the new role of xx to pass a certification. There are 4 phases...2 ILT programs, 1 written exam, and 1 OJT certification check list that is completed as the employee demonstrates on the job. They must pass all 4 parts in that order, to be certified to work in that area. Along with that comes a raise in pay as it is more responsibility. If they are unable to pass the certification, they are still offered a job, but it's a much easier job with much less responsibility. No raise comes with that, of course.

There are a handful of people who can not seem to pass the written exam and I truly believe it's because of a language barrier. Even after having the written exam interpreted, they are still unable to succeed. I think this could be for two reasons...1. They were taught the material in English and 2. Their English vocabulary is limited to only about two hundred words or so.

For example, when you ask a question regarding our widgets, they can seem to tell you (verbal only) about the red ones, blue ones, and yellow, but now that we have added new ones of pink, orange and purple they don't know what you are referring to. (I hope that made sense)

It was a requirement to speak and write English when they were hired and they did...enough to get them the job based on what they needed to know for the job then. Now that we have expanded our requirements, (that they now know pink, orange, and purple) to work in the higher paying area, we would need to accommodate these employees, correct? This would mean that we would have to not only test, but train in their native language, right?

I have contacted our HR department and also our Legal department, but the jury is still out.

I just thought I'd put some feelers out there to see if anyone has ever had a similar situation. I'm afraid I don't know much about employment law either.

What did you do?

Thanks much!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jonesie,

I have heard of similar situations and wanted to share my thoughts. In your statement, you indicate it is a requirement to speak and write English for the original job they were hired for. With the more complex position and certification, I would think that requirement still stands. You really cannot say you must speak/write English for one position but not for advancing to another. You may be able to do some training in the native language but the final testing and certification should be in English. If the guidance material in your manufacturing plant is written/provided in English then people should be tested in that capacity. Should an incident occur, would you be able to confirm the person understood the situation enough to have prevented the incident? (Is that too confusing?)

Those are really good questions, Bravo. The answers are: yes, the procedures, and all training materials are in English.

The other question of should an incident occur, can we confirm that the person understood the situation. I can not say that is completely true, based on what I know today, however, they do have them sign off on dozens of procedures when they onboard with the company. Some of these employees have been here several years. (I hope you know where I'm going with that one)