Whole Foods Market last week indicated it was reviewing its employee language policy after two of its Spanish-speaking workers in New Mexico said they were suspended for complaining about it.
Whole Foods officials insisted that the employees at its Albuquerque store were suspended for "rude" behavior but the possible existence of an English-only language rule created a firestorm across the internet. The New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens threatened a nationwide boycott of Whole Foods if changes weren't made within a week.
"I couldn't believe it," worker Bryan Baldizan told The Associated Press. "All we did was say we didn't believe the policy was fair. We only talk Spanish to each other about personal stuff, not work."
In a statement, Whole Foods claimed the overall incident was a misunderstanding and it does "not have 'no foreign languages spoken' policies in any of our stores." Still, it has a policy that English is its default language for "consistent communication, inclusion, and especially for safety and emergency situations."
The company issued the statement in both English and Spanish.
The statement added that the store's management launched a full investigation and concluded that the two workers were never told that they could not speak Spanish. Regardless, Whole Foods indicated it "will be looking at written guidelines across our multiple regions on this front to ensure clarity."