Is it legal to be fined for not speaking Mandarin?

Mondo Education Updated on 2024-02-22

In recent days, an incident titled "Three employees of Yuxu Real Estate were fined a total of 5,000 yuan for using Cantonese during work" has aroused widespread concern in the society. This penalty comes from the company's "comprehensive ban on non-Chinese language communication policy" that the company began to implement on January 1 this year.

What is the purpose of this policy of Xiamen Yuxu Real Estate? A few days ago, Mr. He, the company's management, replied to the public. It turned out that the original intention of making this decision was to improve work efficiency, avoid misunderstandings due to language differences, and at the same time demonstrate their "standardized" communication concept to the outside world. I can't help but sigh that this company's obsession with the "standardization" of language is really deeply injected into the bone marrow!

However, is this seemingly reasonable provision really reasonable and legitimate? Regarding this matter, the leader of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Chancheng District, Foshan City, told us that if there is indeed a situation in the screenshot, the company's behavior is a big problem and may be suspected of violating the law. They reminded employees that they have the right to file a complaint with the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate and apply for labor arbitration.

This has set off another wave of heated topics - is this "comprehensive ban on non-Chinese language communication policy" legal, and does it discriminate against Cantonese? Different voices exploded on the Internet again. Many enthusiastic netizens directly asked: "Cantonese and Cantonese employees with Cantonese backgrounds can't work normally in a Cantonese environment?" ”

In response to such doubts, the person in charge of the labor and social security inspection brigade of Chancheng District, Foshi City, revealed some new information in an interview - they have sent field team members to the company to check the actual situation, and have not received any feedback yet. Regarding the use of Cantonese among employees and in public areas, they said: "There is absolutely no problem!" It's just that, for that kind of practice of fines, this is a violation of laws and regulations!

It is worth mentioning that according to the regulations of the Foshan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, no company is allowed to impose fines on employees. If the employee suffers losses due to his own fault, he shall be liable for damages in accordance with the law, and the company can only deduct the compensation from the employee's salary, but the reason and amount of the deduction must be clearly stated before the deduction, and after the deduction, the employee's monthly salary shall not be lower than the minimum wage standard stipulated by the local government. It also appears to be a wake-up call for the company that imposed a hefty fine on its Cantonese-speaking employees.

Whether it is the "total ban on non-Chinese language communication policy" or the act of fining employees, it seems to have sparked widespread discussion. Although everyone has different opinions, it is truly beneficial for enterprises to respect the language rights of each employee, comply with laws and regulations, and create an inclusive and open platform for employees to give full play to their individual abilities.

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