ALBUQUERQUE — Whole Foods Market is reviewing its employee language policy after two of its Spanish-speaking workers in New Mexico said they were suspended after complaining about it, a company spokeswoman said Friday.
The Austin, Texas-based organic grocery chain is re-examining the policy “as we speak, and it willbe the topic of ongoing conversations at an all-leadership conference next week,” spokeswoman Libba Letton said.
The move by Whole Foods Market Inc. comes after two employees at an Albuquerque store said this week they were suspended for a day after recently complaining about the company rule, which they say forbids them from speaking Spanish to each other while on the job. Whole Foods officials say the two were suspended for “rude” behavior.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez told The Associated Press she was happy the company is revisiting the policy because New Mexico has a history with Spanish and American Indian languages.
“I’m glad they are willing to re-evaluate that policy because I think every state is different,” Martinez, a Republican and the nation’s only Latina governor, said Friday.
