No Polish, no job
 

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news...b72e29410d.lpf

Tail wagging the dog?

Personally I have nothing against honest hard-working people coming to this country to make better lives for themselves and their families. But surely they have to understand at least the basics of English. For emergencies, of course, and to communicate with the boss.

Or am I missing something?

Re: No Polish, no job
 

Yes they should have, I agree with him there.
Not got a problem with employers requiring bilingual members of staff, but if you need it, then you should advertise accordingly.

It's like me applying for a Wintel support role, and in the interview finding out it's mostly Unix.
Waste of my time, waste of their time.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

Unless of course the employer is trying to "get around" a law on discrimination. A bit like the guy who has no intention of hiring fertile young women, but doesn't say as much in the job ad.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

I have a friend that married a Polish woman, they have gone to live in Poland and a requirement is that he speaks Polish.
He is now taking lessons so that he can become a Polish citizen.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

Maybe they only really want to pay minimum wage or below to the Polish and then any none Polish person is most unlikely to be able to speak the language.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

Stating you require bilingual staff is not against the law.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

Unfair employment discrimination is against the law. One could argue that the employers were unfairly discriminating against non-Polish speaking applicants.

Have the employers considered offering English language lessons to their staff?

Re: No Polish, no job
 

Doesn't matter, if the role requires the employee to be able to speak Polish, then they're within their rights to only employ people who are qualified.
How else does the diplomatic service employ translators?
Or international support centres gain employees?

The only issue here is that they did not state the requirements properly in the advert, and as such, wasted time.

It's no different to a company asking for drivers, then finding out in the interview they need someone who can drive not just cars and vans, but HGV's too.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought it would be a complaint about dirty shoes :erm:. I'll get my coat now ;)

Re: No Polish, no job
 

same thing is happening in Holland now if you arent a EU citizen and want to apply to live in Holland... you need to be able to speak passable dutch within I thought I heard 9 months.

In some ways (and okay I'm going to get bbq'ed for this now) I do agree with this and that perhaps the UK should implement this as well.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

It makes sense.
It'd still make sense for EU members, why should I be able to get a job and live in another EU state without bothering to learn the local language within a reasonable time.
Means people who move around a lot aren't affected as they're not likely to stay for long enough, but those who are staying for a year or more should learn the language of their host country.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

How many translators speak one language?

Personally I don't really think it's appropriate that a lot of people that can't communicate in English are walking round a military instilation but then who am I to complain, I am sure the MOD must think it's ok

Re: No Polish, no job
 

I don't think it is as straightforward as you are suggesting. Employers must have good reasons for criteria added to the job description. You couldn't specify "must be willing to work barechested" in a sweaty building site, as this might discriminate against women.

Re: No Polish, no job
 

That's comepletely different. You don't have to work bare chested to be effective on a building site.

When working with people who speak another language, it is reasonable for the employer to only employ people who can speak languages which would enable them to work effectivly.
If he had said "you're not polish, I'm not employing you" then that is discriminatory and illegal, but he didn't.
Instead, being able to speak Polish was integral to the position, he'd negrected to ensure that was made clear on the advert, and as such, wasted time.
If he'd asked for a secretary, and interviewed someone who couldn't do short hand but he needed someone who could do short hand, would he be acting illegally by employing one of the other candidates who can do short hand?

Look on IT job sites, you'll see loads of positions for German speaker or Dutch speaker or French speakers based in the UK, are they acting illegally by only employing people who can speak German/Dutch/French?

Re: No Polish, no job
 

http://www.cre.gov.uk/gdpract/employ...e/parttwo.html

In the OP case, employers are effectively making the situation for themselves by selectively employing non-English speakers. It isn't as if the job requires frequent telephone conversations with staff in Warsaw.