S’pore manager allegedly tells staff they can’t speak Tamil at work, while other employees speak Mandarin freely

Singapore retail outlet manager allegedly bans Tamil at work but allows Mandarin

A part-time retail worker recently took to the AskSingapore subreddit to share that their manager had allegedly banned them from speaking Tamil at work, even though other staff were allowed to converse freely in Mandarin.

Retail manager allegedly bans workers from speaking Tamil

On Tuesday (25 Nov), the Redditor posted that they and a colleague were confronted by a manager after she heard them conversing in Tamil.

“She immediately told us that we are ‘not allowed to speak other language and only English’,” they wrote.

In contrast, most of their co-workers, who are Chinese, were allegedly allowed to speak Mandarin with one another.

The original poster (OP) also shared that the manager herself switches between Mandarin and English during morning meetings.

As their employment contract does not specify any language restrictions, the OP wondered if their manager’s actions were “straight-up racist and discriminatory”.

Netizens rally behind OP & cite discrimination

A netizen felt it was discriminatory as the manager was only disallowing one language specifically.

Another Redditor urged the OP to seek help from the Human Resources (HR) department and raise the matter to the Ministry of Manpower if needed.

Meanwhile, this netizen claimed they encountered a similar scenario during their National Service stint.

Also read: ‘Say Ma’am’: Filipino expat shares how S’porean friend regularly makes ‘racist’ jokes about domestic helpers

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Featured image adapted from Koh Sze Kiat on Canva. For illustration purposes only.