Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Unfortunately, yes.

While I agree it's legal, I don't understand Mr. Nelson's editorial comment that it is unfortunate. If an employer has a customer or client base that does not speak English, exactly how fortunate would it be to pass a law prohibiting them from hiring employees who can talk to the customers/clients? What about a company that does internatinal business? Would it be more fortunate to prohibit them from hiring people who can speak the language of the countries where they do business?