Rodney Frelinghuysen: “this motion to instruct is straightforward. It instructs the House conferees to recede to the Senate on a provision in…”

“this motion to instruct is straightforward. It instructs the House conferees to recede to the Senate on a provision in the Senate-passed bill that would prevent the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from using funds to initiate civil action against an organization which requires its employees to speak English at work. This provision was motivated by a lawsuit filed earlier this year against the Salvation Army. In that particular case, the EEOC sued the Salvation Army over its policy that its employees speak English. The lawsuit sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in monetary and punitive damages. What is more troubling is that when you look at the history of this issue, you will find a Federal court ruling almost 4 years ago that upheld the Salvation Army's policy that employees speak English at work. You will also find that the Salvation Army gave the two employees a year to learn English before it took action to terminate them. The EEOC has an important mission, one which we all support. The EEOC currently has a tremendous backlog of pending cases, approximately 46,000, a number that the Commission estimates will grow. At a time when the EEOC is struggling to fulfill its mission, cases like this lead one to questions about the Commission's ability to set priorities.”