
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 21, 1994                    TAG: 9406210347 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A9    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940621                                 LENGTH: WASHINGTON

COURT REJECTS CHALLENGE TO ENGLISH-ONLY POLICY

{LEAD} Turning aside Clinton administration objections, the Supreme Court let a California company keep requiring most employees to speak English on the job.

The justices, by a 7-2 vote Monday, refused to hear arguments that the company discriminated illegally against Spanish-speaking employees by imposing the English-only rule. Both workers involved in the case are bilingual.

{REST} The court order was not a decision and set no legal precedent, but it did leave intact a federal appeals court ruling that remains binding law in nine Western states.

They are California, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

English-only rules are increasingly common nationwide, and the issue probably will return to the high court some day.

Asked for its views, the Clinton administration had urged the court to use the California case to make it harder for employers to impose such rules.

Only Justices Harry A. Blackmun and Sandra Day O'Connor voted to hear arguments in the California case. Four votes are needed to grant a review.

Priscilla Garcia and Marciela Buitrago, together with their labor union, sued the Spun Steak Co. in South San Francisco in 1991, alleging that its English-only rule violated a federal law barring on-the-job bias based on national origin.

{KEYWORDS} U.S. SUPREME COURT by CNB