Civil rights: language restrictions.

The Unruh Civil Rights Act generally prohibits business establishments from discriminating on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, or medical condition. The act provides civil remedies for violations of its provisions. Under the California Fair Employment Housing Act, it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to adopt or enforce a policy that prohibits the use of any language in the workplace, except if that policy is justified by business necessity, as defined, and prescribed notice of the policy and consequences for violation of the policy is given to employees.