Newshub has seen a document from a New World store in Palmerston North that required staff to talk in only English on the shop floor.
Foodstuffs said the intent was to make everyone feel included but the Race Relations Commissioner said it was discriminatory and even against the law.
New World Broadway, located in the heart of Palmerston North, is a bustling supermarket that on social media at least appears to endorse the use of other languages like te reo Māori - they love it, in fact.
But Newshub understands that it's a different story on the shop floor.
An employee handbook shows staff were required to only talk in English.
"It's draconian, it's ridiculous," human rights barrister Michael Bott said. "It's tragic that this is the situation in Palmerston North in this supermarket in 2022."
The line first appeared in a new owner's handbook. It states that: "Whilst New World Melody's welcomes our diverse culture and allows all languages to be spoken, we do require all discussions on the shop floor to be in English.
"This is due to instances where staff and customers hear their names mentioned and know they were being talked about by staff in their native language."
The guidelines also encouraged all staff room discussions to be in English for the same reason - for the staff's own protection.
"Well that's just rubbish. The fact is they are using a tool due to their position of power to bully employees from using their own language to talk amongst colleagues," Bott said. "It's fundamentally wrong."
Bott said it's discrimination and may even breach the Human Rights Act, something the Race Relations Commissioner agrees with.
"It's a bit of a discriminatory policy, it's against the law actually to treat people less than," Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon said.
The Human Rights Act protects people in New Zealand from unlawful discrimination.
An employee first sent the handbook to First Union which represents supermarket staff.
"I was absolutely appalled. I was disgusted, I was shocked, I was outraged," First Union organiser Dion Martin said.
Martin said he's never seen anything like it.
"There's no need for just English to be spoken on the shop floor. We are, I know Palmerston North is, a multicultural, multiethnic society. We celebrate diversity," Martin said.
In 2017, people were outraged when a picture emerged of a sign asking staff to speak only English in another Foodstuff store in the Bay of Plenty.
The new owner, who used to own a New World in Tauranga, referred Newshub to Foodstuffs, the cooperative behind brands like New World and Pak'nSave.
In response to the section in New World Broadway's handbook, Foodstuffs said in a statement the intent was to make everyone feel included.
"The intent of this request was to ensure customers and team members felt included in all interactions on the shop floor and in team areas like the staff room," a Foodstuffs spokesperson said.
"Following feedback on the handbook from the store team, the intent of the section in the employee handbook was clarified in a newsletter which also advised the section was no longer applicable and wouldn't be included in future copies of the handbook."
It also said all cooperative members have since been told the requirement to talk in only English is not appropriate.
"The fact that this store was brazen enough to have an 'English only' rule for staff is completely unfair and unconstitutional," said FIRST Union and Te Rūnanga o Kotahitanga's Āpiha Māori organiser Edith Tamaki. "It is, unfortunately, a common theme among employers.
"We hear from our membership that they have been pulled into an office for a 'quick chat' to explain that a member of staff or the public have complained about use of te reo Māori in the workplace and asked outright to speak English only. In the case of this Palmerston North employer, they were stupid enough to write it into a handbook."
