Language access for limited English proficient persons

Official HTML letter (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/advisories/TEGL/2003/TEGL26-02.html):

Employment and Training Administration Advisory System
U.S. Department of Labor
Washington, D.C. 20210
CLASSIFICATION: LEP
CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL: OPDER
DATE: May 29, 2003

TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO. 26-02

TO: ALL STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES
ALL STATE WORKFORCE LIAISONS

/S/
FROM: EMILY STOVER DeROCCO, Assistant Secretary
SUBJECT: Publication of Revised Guidance Regarding the Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient (LEP) Persons

1. Purpose.To announce the issuance of the U.S. Department of Labor's Revised Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients Regarding the Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons.

2. Background. On January 17, 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor issued guidance regarding the responsibilities of recipients of federal financial assistance in serving persons with limited English proficiency. This guidance was published pursuant to Executive Order 13166, the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), its implementing regulations, and Section 188 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
Based upon the public comments received in response to the January 17, 2001 guidance and further instructions from the Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is now publishing revised guidance. The revised guidance is attached and will also be available on the Web at www.lep.gov and at www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/complianceassis.htm. The guidance does not create new obligations. It clarifies standards consistent with case law and well-established legal principles developed under Title VI.
The policy guidance reiterates DOL's longstanding position that in order to avoid discrimination against LEP persons on the grounds of national origin, recipients must take reasonable steps to ensure that such persons receive, free of charge, the language assistance necessary to afford them meaningful access to the programs, services, and information those recipients provide. DOL will continue to provide technical assistance to any recipient seeking to ensure that it operates an effective language assistance program. DOL also intends to make tools and resources available to its stakeholders to help them comply with Title VI and Section 188, in ways that are cost effective.

RESCISSIONS: [none listed]
EXPIRATION DATE: Continuing
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It is important to note that while all recipients must ensure meaningful access for LEP individuals, DOL acknowledges that the implementation of a comprehensive system to service LEP individuals is an evolving process that will improve over time, as it is developed, implemented, and periodically reevaluated.

3. Submission of Comments. While the revised guidance is effective immediately, comments may be submitted within 30 days of the Federal Register publication date. Please see the specific instructions contained in the revised guidance. DOL will review all comments and will determine what modifications to the guidance, if any, are necessary.

4. Dissemination of the Revised Guidance and Technical Assistance.Responsibility for informing the Workforce Investment System about LEP requirements and for providing technical assistance rests jointly with the U.S. Department of Labor's Civil Rights Center (CRC) and the Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The CRC is available to provide technical assistance, including training, to recipients of federal financial assistance to ensure compliance with Title VI and Section 188, and will work with ETA to provide stakeholders with tools to develop and implement meaningful service delivery systems for LEP persons. ETA has created a Language Access Steering Committee that has been studying practical solutions that will enable ETA and its stakeholders to accomplish their responsibilities in the most cost-effective manner possible.
The Language Access Steering Committee will act as a clearinghouse for information and best practices. If you have documents, ideas or expertise that you would like to contribute to this effort, please e-mail the Language Access Steering Committee at [email protected].
ETA anticipates issuing a Technical Assistance Guide (TAG) on Services to Limited English Proficient Persons before the end of the calendar year. The TAG will bring together in one document, the experiences and promising practices of our grantees. Documents and translations related to LEP service delivery will also be included and many will be accessible in an electronic format. ETA also intends to provide opportunities for discussing promising practices at Workforce Innovations 2003 (http://www.workforceinnovations.org) and at other regional and national conferences. ETA also plans to develop a Peer Expert Directory by the end of the calendar year. In the interim, many useful technical assistance tools can be found on the Website of the Interagency Working Group on LEP (www.lep.gov). A particularly valuable tool is the "Language Assistance Self-Assessment and Planning Tool for Recipients of Federal Financial Assistance." It can be found at http://www.lep.gov/selfassesstool.htm.
During August 13-15, 2003, the U.S. Department of Labor's Civil Rights Center will host the 14th Annual National Equal Opportunity Conference. The general plenary session will focus on the Department's LEP guidance. Invited presenters include officials from the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Justice, and National Association of State Workforce Agencies. There will also be numerous panel presentations highlighting strategies for developing, improving, and implementing programs that ensure meaningful access for LEP persons. More information can be found at the following Web site: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/2003conference.htm

5. Action Required.State Workforce Agencies are requested to disseminate this revised guidance to all of their grantees and sub-grantees with instructions to disseminate it further. In addition, each recipient of federal financial assistance must take reasonable steps to ensure LEP persons receive, free of charge, the language assistance necessary to afford them meaningful access to their programs, services, and information. Any comments on the Federal Register publication must be submitted by June 30, 2003.

6. Inquiries. For further information contact your ETA Regional Office.

7. Attachments.

- Revised Guidance Regarding the Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient (LEP) Persons

Attached revised DOL guidance, published at 68 Fed. Reg. 32290 (May 29, 2003) (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2003-05-29/pdf/03-13125.pdf; accessed 2026-10-25):

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of the Secretary
Civil Rights Center; Enforcement of
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
Policy Guidance to Federal Financial
Assistance Recipients Regarding the
Title VI Prohibition Against National
Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited
English Proficient Persons
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Labor.
ACTION: Notice of policy guidance with
request for comment.
SUMMARY: The Department of Labor
(DOL) publishes Revised Guidance to
Federal Financial Assistance Recipients
Regarding the Title VI Prohibition
Against National Origin Discrimination
Affecting Limited English Proficient
Persons (Revised DOL Recipient LEP
Guidance). This Revised DOL Recipient
LEP Guidance is issued pursuant to
Executive Order 13166.
DATES: This Guidance is effective
immediately. Comments must be
submitted on or before June 30, 2003.
DOL will review all comments and will
determine what modifications to the
Guidance, if any, are necessary. This
Guidance supplants existing guidance
on the same subject originally published
at 66 FR 4596 (January 17, 2001).
ADDRESSES: Interested persons should
submit written comments to Ms.
Annabelle T. Lockhart, Director, Civil
Rights Center, U.S. Department of Labor,
200 Constitution Ave., NW., Room N–
4123, Washington, DC 20210.
Commenters wishing acknowledgment
of their comments must submit them by
certified mail, return receipt requested.
Please be advised that mail delivery to
federal buildings in the Washington, DC
metropolitan area may experience
delays due to concerns about anthrax
contamination. Comments may also be
transmitted by facsimile to (202) 693–
6505 or by e-mail to
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Annabelle Lockhart or Naomi Barry-
Pérez at the Civil Rights Center, U.S.
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Ave., NW., Room N–4123, Washington,
DC 20210. Telephone: 202–693–6500;
TTY: 202–693–6515. Arrangements to
receive the Guidance in an alternative
format may be made by contacting the
named individuals.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under
DOL regulations implementing Title VI
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.
2000d, et seq. (Title VI), recipients of
federal financial assistance have the
responsibility to ensure meaningful
access to their programs and activities
by persons with limited English
proficiency (LEP). See 29 CFR part 31.
Executive Order 13166, reprinted at 65
FR 50121 (August 16, 2000), directs
each federal agency that extends
assistance subject to the requirements of
Title VI to publish guidance for its
respective recipients clarifying that
obligation. Executive Order 13166
further directs that all such guidance
documents be consistent with the
compliance standards and framework
detailed in the Department of Justice
(DOJ) Policy Guidance entitled
‘‘Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964—National Origin
Discrimination Against Persons with
Limited English Proficiency.’’ See 65 FR
50123 (August 16, 2000).
On January 17, 2001, DOL published
Guidance on how Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42
U.S.C. 2000d, et seq., and its
implementing regulations apply to
recipients of DOL financial assistance in
their contact with persons who are
limited English proficient (‘‘LEP
Guidance’’). See 66 FR 4596. The LEP
Guidance also addressed the
responsibilities of recipients under
Section 188 of the Workforce
Investment Act, Public Law 105–220, 29
U.S.C. 2938, and its implementing
regulations, which adopt the same
prohibition against national origin
discrimination that is found in Title VI.
DOL received extensive comments
following the January 17, 2001
publication of the LEP Guidance.
On March 14, 2002, the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) issued
a Report to Congress titled ‘‘Assessment
of the Total Benefits and Costs of
Implementing Executive Order No.
13166: Improving Access to Services for
Persons with Limited English
Proficiency.’’ Among other things, the
Report recommended the adoption of
uniform guidance across all Federal
agencies, with flexibility to permit
tailoring to each agency’s specific
recipients. Consistent with this OMB
recommendation, DOJ published LEP
Guidance for DOJ recipients, which was
drafted and organized to also function
as a model for similar guidance
documents by other Federal grant
agencies. See 67 FR 41455 (June 18,
2002).
This revised DOL Guidance reflects
consideration of comments received and
the additional guidance of DOJ.
Following DOJ’s direction, we will again
accept public comment and will revise
and republish, as appropriate. Because
DOJ has indicated that this Guidance
must adhere to the federal-wide
compliance standards and framework
detailed in the model DOJ LEP
Guidance issued on June 18, 2002, DOL
specifically solicits comments on the
nature, scope and appropriateness of the
DOL-specific examples set out in this
guidance explaining and/or highlighting
how those consistent federal-wide
compliance standards are applicable to
recipients of federal financial assistance
through DOL.
The model DOJ LEP guidance
includes a section regarding ‘‘safe
harbors’’ for written translations of vital
material. That section states:
‘‘Safe Harbor. Many recipients would
like to ensure with greater certainty that
they comply with their obligations to
provide written translations in
languages other than English.
Paragraphs (a) and (b) outline the
circumstances that can provide a ‘‘safe
harbor’’ for recipients regarding the
requirements for translation of written
materials. A ‘‘safe harbor’’ means that if
a recipient provides written translations
under these circumstances, such action
will be considered strong evidence of
compliance with the recipient’s written-translation obligations.
The failure to provide written
translations under the circumstances
outlined in paragraphs (a) and (b) does
not mean there is non-compliance.
Rather, they provide a common starting
point for recipients to consider whether
and at what point the importance of the
service, benefit, or activity involved; the
nature of the information sought; and
the number or proportion of LEP
persons served call for written
translations of commonly-used forms
into frequently-encountered languages
other than English. Thus, these
paragraphs merely provide a guide for
recipients that would like greater
certainty of compliance than can be
provided by a fact-intensive, four-factor
analysis.
Example: Even if the safe harbors are not
used, if written translation of a certain
document(s) would be so burdensome as to
defeat the legitimate objectives of its
program, the translation of the written
materials is not necessary. Other ways of
providing meaningful access, such as
effective oral interpretation of certain vital
documents, might be acceptable under such
circumstances.
Safe Harbor. The following actions
will be considered strong evidence of
compliance with the recipient’s written-translation obligations:
(a) The DOJ recipient provides written
translations of vital documents for each
eligible LEP language group that
constitutes five percent or 1,000,
whichever is less, of the population of
persons eligible to be served or likely to
be affected or encountered. Translation
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Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 103 / Thursday, May 29, 2003 / Notices
1 DOL recognizes that many recipients had
language assistance services in place to provide LEP
individuals meaningful access to programs and
activities prior to the issuance of Executive Order
13166. This Guidance provides a uniform
framework for recipients to integrate, formalize, and
assess the continued vitality of existing and
possibly additional reasonable efforts based on the
nature of the programs or activities, the current
needs of the LEP populations encountered, and
prior experience in providing language services in
the communities served.
2 This Guidance is not a regulation but rather a
guide. Accordingly, the examples provided are
illustrative and should not be construed as
requirements. Title VI and its implementing
regulations and Section 188 of WIA require that
recipients take reasonable steps to ensure
meaningful access by LEP persons. This Guidance
provides an analytical framework that recipients
may use to determine how best to comply with
statutory and regulatory obligations to provide
meaningful access to the benefits, services,
information, and other important portions of their
programs and activities for individuals who are
limited English proficient.
of other documents, if needed, can be
provided orally; or
(b) If there are fewer than 50 persons
in a language group that reaches the five
percent trigger in (a), the recipient does
not translate vital written materials but
provides written notice in the primary
language of the LEP language group of
the right to receive competent oral
interpretation of those written materials,
free of cost.
These safe harbor provisions apply to
the translation of written documents
only. They do not affect the requirement
to provide meaningful access to LEP
individuals through competent oral
interpreters where oral language
services are needed and are reasonable.
DOL has not included a similar safe
harbor provision for translations in this
revised Guidance. The absence of such
language is not intended to detract from
or otherwise minimize the underlying
obligation to ensure that LEP persons
can access all vital documents. DOL
encourages comments which focus on
the applicability of the above safe
harbor to DOL recipients, suggestions of
thresholds that may better reflect DOL’s
universe of program customers and
recipients’ responsibilities, the possible
advantages or disadvantages of
including language similar to the model
DOJ Guidance, as well as any
suggestions that would ensure the
consistency that OMB has
recommended while at the same time
ensuring that the Guidance is
appropriate for the types of recipients
funded by DOL.
It has been determined that this
revised Guidance does not constitute a
regulation subject to the rulemaking
requirements of the Administrative
Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553, and is not
subject to Executive Order 12866
(Regulatory Review and Planning,
September 30, 1993).
Signed at Washington, DC this 19th of May
2003.
Elaine L. Chao,
Secretary of Labor.
I. Introduction
Most individuals living in the United
States read, write, speak and understand
English. There are many individuals,
however, for whom English is not their
primary language. For instance,
according to the 2000 census, over 26
million individuals speak Spanish and
almost seven million individuals speak
an Asian or Pacific Island language at
home. If these individuals have a
limited ability to read, write, speak, or
understand English, they are limited
English proficient, or ‘‘LEP.’’ While
detailed data has not yet been released,
the 2000 census estimates that over 6.6
million Spanish speakers (representing
3.28 percent of U.S. residents over the
age of 18) do not speak English ‘‘well or
at all.’’ Over 1.2 million people (over the
age of 18) who speak other ‘‘Indo-
European’’ languages cannot speak
English ‘‘well or at all.’’ Over 1.4
million Asian or Pacific Islanders (over
the age of 18) speak English ‘‘not well’’
or ‘‘not at all.’’ In total, more than 10.5
million people claim to speak little or
no English, demonstrating an increase of
approximately four million since 1990.
Language for LEP individuals can be
a barrier to accessing important benefits
or services, understanding and
exercising important rights, complying
with applicable responsibilities, or
understanding other information
provided by federally assisted programs
and activities. The federal government
provides financial assistance to an array
of services that can be made accessible
to otherwise eligible LEP persons. The
federal government is committed to
improving the accessibility of these
programs and activities to eligible LEP
persons, a goal that reinforces its
equally important commitment to
promoting programs and activities
designed to help individuals learn
English. Recipients should not overlook
the long-term positive impacts of
incorporating or offering English as a
Second Language (ESL) programs in
parallel with language assistance
services. ESL courses can serve as an
important adjunct to a proper LEP plan.
However, the fact that ESL classes are
made available does not obviate the
statutory and regulatory requirement to
provide meaningful access for those
who are not yet English proficient.
Recipients of federal financial assistance
have an obligation to reduce language
barriers that can preclude meaningful
access by LEP persons to important
government services.1
In certain circumstances, failure to
ensure that LEP persons can effectively
participate in or benefit from federally
assisted programs and activities may
violate the prohibition under Title VI of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.
2000d, Title VI regulations, and Section
188 of the Workforce Investment Act
(WIA) against national origin
discrimination. The purpose of this
Guidance is to assist recipients in
fulfilling their responsibilities to
provide meaningful access to LEP
persons under existing law. This
Guidance clarifies existing legal
requirements for LEP persons by
providing a description of the factors
recipients should consider in fulfilling
their responsibilities to LEP persons.2
These are the same criteria DOL will use
in evaluating whether recipients are in
compliance with Title VI and its
implementing regulations and Section
188 of WIA.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has a
unique role under Executive Order
13166. The Order charges DOJ with
responsibility for providing guidance to
other federal agencies on how to serve
LEP individuals and for ensuring
consistency among the agency-specific
guidance documents. Consistency
among departments of the federal
government is particularly important.
Inconsistency or contradictory guidance
could confuse recipients of federal
funds and needlessly increase costs
without rendering the meaningful
access for LEP persons that this
Guidance and other federal agency
guidance documents are designed to
address. As with most government
initiatives, this requires balancing
several principles. While this Guidance
discusses that balance in some detail, it
is important to note the basic principles
behind that balance. First, we must
ensure that federally assisted programs
aimed at the American public do not
leave some behind simply because they
face challenges communicating in
English. This is of particular importance
because, in many cases, LEP individuals
form a substantial portion of those
encountered in federally assisted
programs. Second, we must achieve this
goal while finding constructive methods
to reduce the costs of LEP requirements
on small businesses, small local
governments, or small non-profits that
receive federal financial assistance.
There are many productive steps that
the Federal government, either
collectively or as individual grant
agencies, can take to help recipients
32292 Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 103 / Thursday, May 29, 2003 / Notices
reduce the costs of language services
without sacrificing meaningful access
for LEP persons. Without these steps,
certain smaller grantees may well
choose not to participate in federally
assisted programs, threatening the
critical functions that the programs
strive to provide. To that end, DOL will
continue to provide assistance and
guidance in this important area and will
work with recipients of DOL financial
assistance, including state and local
workforce agencies, advocacy groups,
and LEP persons, to identify and share
model plans, examples of best practices,
and cost-saving approaches. Moreover,
DOL intends to explore how language
assistance measures, resources and cost-containment approaches developed
with respect to its own federally
conducted programs and activities can
be effectively shared or otherwise made
available to recipients, particularly
small businesses, small local
governments, and small non-profits. An
interagency working group on LEP has
developed a website, http://
www.lep.gov, to assist in disseminating
this information to recipients, federal
agencies, and the communities being
served.
Some have interpreted the case of
Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275
(2001), as impliedly striking down the
regulations promulgated under Title VI
that form the basis for the part of
Executive Order 13166 that applies to
federally assisted programs and
activities. DOJ has taken the position
that this is not the case. Accordingly,
DOL will strive to ensure that federally
assisted programs and activities work in
a way that is effective for all eligible
beneficiaries, including those with
limited English proficiency.
II. Legal Authority
Section 601 of Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000d,
provides that no person shall ‘‘on the
ground of race, color, or national origin,
be excluded from participation in, be
denied the benefits of, or be subjected
to discrimination under any program or
activity receiving federal financial
assistance.’’ Section 602 authorizes and
directs Federal agencies that are
empowered to extend Federal financial
assistance to any program or activity ‘‘to
effectuate the provisions of [section 601]

* * * by issuing rules, regulations, or
orders of general applicability.’’ 42
U.S.C. 2000d–1.
Department of Labor regulations
promulgated pursuant to section 602
forbid recipients from ‘‘utiliz[ing]
criteria or methods of administration
which have the effect of subjecting
individuals to discrimination because of
their race, color, or national origin, or
have the effect of defeating or
substantially impairing accomplishment
of the objectives of the program as
respects individuals of a particular race,
color, or national origin.’’ 29 CFR
31.3(b)(2).
The Supreme Court, in Lau v. Nichols,
414 U.S. 563 (1974), interpreted
regulations promulgated by the former
Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare, including a regulation similar
to that of DOL, 45 CFR 80.3(b)(2), to
hold that Title VI prohibits conduct that
has a disproportionate effect on LEP
persons because such conduct
constitutes national origin
discrimination. In Lau, a San Francisco
school district that had a significant
number of non-English speaking
students of Chinese origin was required
to take reasonable steps to provide the
LEP students with a meaningful
opportunity to participate in federally
funded educational programs.
In the DOL context, Section 188 of the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
provides that no individual shall be
excluded from participation in, denied
the benefits of, be subjected to
discrimination under, or denied
employment in the administration of or
in connection with, any such program
or activity because of race, color,
religion, sex (except as otherwise
permitted under Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972),
national origin, age, political affiliation
or belief, status as a qualified individual
with disabilities or specified
noncitizenship statuses (e.g., lawfully
admitted resident aliens).
The regulations implementing the
nondiscrimination and equal
opportunity provisions of Section 188
specifically address national origin
discrimination and language access.
Where ‘‘a significant number or
proportion of the population eligible to
be served, or likely to be directly
affected, by a WIA Title I-assisted
program or activity may need services or
information in a language other than
English in order to be effectively
informed about, or able to participate in,
the program or activity,’’ the Section
188 regulations require recipients ‘‘to
take reasonable steps to provide services
and information in appropriate
languages.’’ 29 CFR 37.35(a). Even
where there is not a ‘‘significant’’
number or proportion of LEP persons in
the community serviced by the
recipient, recipients nonetheless are
required to ‘‘make reasonable efforts to
meet the particularized language needs
of limited-English speaking individuals
who seek services or information from
the recipient.’’ 29 CFR 37.35(b). This
means that, for instance, when the LEP
population in the community serviced
by a recipient does not comprise a
‘‘significant’’ number or proportion,
recipients should still balance the four
factors described herein to determine
what steps are reasonable to meet the
particularized language needs of those
seeking services or information.
The regulations implementing Section
188 require the Governor of every state
recipient of WIA–Title I financial
assistance to establish and adhere to a
Methods of Administration (‘‘MOA’’).
Further, the regulations require that
MOAs include a description of how the
state programs and recipients have
satisfied the specified requirements of
the Section 188 implementing
regulations, including the obligation to
provide services and information in
appropriate languages under the
circumstances outlined in 29 CFR 37.35.
Although the regulatory language
differs, the obligations of recipients to
provide accessibility by LEP persons to
DOL financially assisted programs and
activities are the same under Title VI
and Section 188.
On August 11, 2000, Executive Order
13166 was issued. ‘‘Improving Access to
Services for Persons with Limited
English Proficiency,’’ 65 FR 50121
(August 16, 2000). Under that Order,
every federal agency that provides
financial assistance to non-federal
entities must publish guidance on how
their recipients can provide meaningful
access to LEP persons and thus comply
with the Title VI regulations forbidding
funding recipients from ‘‘restrict[ing] an
individual in any way in the enjoyment
of any advantage or privilege enjoyed by
others receiving any service, financial
aid, or other benefit under the program’’
or from ‘‘utiliz[ing] criteria or methods
of administration which have the effect
of subjecting individuals to
discrimination because of their race,
color, or national origin, or have the
effect of defeating or substantially
impairing accomplishment of the
objectives of the program as respects
individuals of a particular race, color, or
national origin.’’
On that same day, DOJ issued a
general guidance document addressed
to ‘‘Executive Agency Civil Rights
Officers’’ setting forth broad principles
for agencies to apply in developing
guidance documents for recipients
pursuant to the Executive Order.
‘‘Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 National Origin
Discrimination Against Persons With
Limited English Proficiency,’’ 65 FR
50123 (August 16, 2000) (‘‘DOJ LEP
Guidance’’).
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3 The DOJ memorandum noted that some
commentators have interpreted Sandoval as
impliedly striking down the disparate-impact
regulations promulgated under Title VI that form
the basis for the part of Executive Order 13166 that
applies to federally assisted programs and activities.
See, e.g., Sandoval, 532 U.S. at 286, 286 n.6 (‘‘[W]e
assume for purposes of this decision that section
602 confers the authority to promulgate disparate-impact regulations; * * * We cannot help
observing, however, how strange it is to say that
disparate-impact regulations are ‘inspired by, at the
service of, and inseparably intertwined with’ Sec.
601* * * when Sec. 601 permits the very behavior
that the regulations forbid.’’). The memorandum,
however, made clear that DOJ disagreed with the
commentators’ interpretation. Sandoval holds
principally that there is no private right of action
to enforce Title VI disparate-impact regulations. It
did not address the validity of those regulations or
Executive Order 13166 or otherwise limit the
authority and responsibility of federal grant
agencies to enforce their own implementing
regulations.
4 Pursuant to Executive Order 13166, the
meaningful access requirement of the Title VI
regulations and the four-factor analysis set forth in
the DOJ LEP Guidance are to additionally apply to
the programs and activities of federal agencies,
including the Department of Labor.
5 However, if a federal agency were to decide to
terminate federal funds based on noncompliance
with Title VI or its regulations, only funds directed
to the particular program or activity that is out of
compliance would be terminated. 42 U.S.C. 2000d–
1.
6 The nondiscrimination and equal opportunity
provisions of WIA and its implementing regulations
apply to programs and activities that are part of the
One-Stop Career System and that are operated by
the One-Stop Career System partners listed in
section 121(b) of WIA (29 U.S.C. 2841(b)), to the
extent that the programs and activities are being
conducted as part of the One-Stop Career System.
When a One-Stop Career System partner receives
federal financial assistance from an Executive
agency other than DOL, such as the Department of
Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture
or Housing and Urban Development, the grant-making agency enforces the recipient’s Title VI
obligation. Therefore, when a One-Stop Career
System partner receives federal financial assistance
from an agency other than DOL, the partner should
follow the LEP guidance issued by that agency, to
the extent that such guidance exists. If LEP
guidance has not been issued by the grant-making
agency, or if that guidance does not address the
activities of the One-Stop Career partner, the One-
Stop Career partner should follow this Guidance
until such time as the grant-making agency issues
LEP guidance.
Subsequently, federal agencies raised
questions regarding the requirements of
the Executive Order, especially in light
of the Supreme Court’s decision in
Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275
(2001). On October 26, 2001, Ralph F.
Boyd, Jr., Assistant Attorney General for
DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, issued a
memorandum for ‘‘Heads of
Departments and Agencies, General
Counsels and Civil Rights Directors,’’
which clarified and reaffirmed the DOJ
LEP Guidance in light of Sandoval.3 The
Assistant Attorney General stated that
because Sandoval did not invalidate any
Title VI regulations that proscribe
conduct that has a disparate impact on
covered groups—the type of regulations
that form the legal basis for the part of
Executive Order 13166 that applies to
federally assisted programs and
activities—the Executive Order remains
in force.
Pursuant to Executive Order 13166,
DOL developed its own guidance
document for recipients, which was
initially issued on January 17, 2001.
‘‘Guidance on Improving Access to
Services for Persons with Limited
English Proficiency,’’ 66 FR 4596
(January 17, 2001) (DOL LEP Guidance).
This Proposed Revised Guidance is thus
published pursuant to Executive Order
13166 in light of the Assistant Attorney
General Boyd’s October 26, 2001
clarifying memorandum.
III. Who Is Covered?
Department of Labor regulations, 29
CFR part 31, require all recipients of
federal financial assistance from DOL to
provide meaningful access to LEP
persons.4 Federal financial assistance
includes grants, training, use of
equipment, donations of surplus
property, and other assistance.
Recipients of DOL assistance include,
for example:
• State-level agencies that administer,
or are financed in whole or in part with,
WIA Title I funds;
• State Workforce Agencies;
• State and local Workforce
Investment Boards;
• Local workforce investment areas
(‘‘local areas’’) grant recipients;
• One-Stop Career Center operators;
• Service providers, including
eligible training providers and youth
service providers;
• On-the-Job Training (OJT)
employers;
• Job Corps contractors and center
operators;
• Job Corps national training
contractors;
• Outreach and admissions agencies,
including Job Corps contractors that
perform these functions; and
• Other national program recipients.
Subrecipients likewise are covered
when federal funds are passed through
from one recipient to a subrecipient.
This Guidance does not create any new
requirements for community colleges
and other educational institutions that
receive federal financial assistance
under the Higher Education Act as these
institutions must already comply with
Title VI requirements.
Pursuant to the Civil Rights
Restoration Act of 1987 (CRRA),
coverage extends to a recipient’s entire
program or activity, i.e., to all parts of
a recipient’s operations. This is true
even if only one part of the recipient
receives the federal assistance.5
Example: DOL provides assistance to a
state department of labor to support the
development of the state’s One-Stop Career
System. While the funds may be
administered by one agency within the state
department, Title VI applies to all of the
operations of the entire state department of
labor—not just the One-Stop Career delivery
system.6
Finally, some recipients operate in
localities in which English has been
declared the official language.
Nonetheless, these recipients continue
to be subject to federal non-discrimination requirements, including
those applicable to the provision of
federally assisted services to persons
with limited English proficiency.
IV. Who Is a Limited English Proficient
Individual?
Individuals who do not speak English
as their primary language and who have
a limited ability to read, write, speak, or
understand English can be limited
English proficient, or ‘‘LEP,’’ and
entitled to language assistance with
respect to a particular type of service,
benefit, or encounter.
Examples of populations likely to
include LEP persons who are
encountered and/or served by DOL
recipients and should be considered
when planning language services
include, but are not limited to:
• Unemployed and/or dislocated
individuals seeking unemployment
insurance (UI), job search and/or job
training services.
• Workers, such as those doing
construction or working in mines, who
receive training from Occupational
Safety and Health or Mine Safety and
Health training providers.
• Youth looking for summer
employment, academic and career
exploration or vocational training and
employment opportunities, such as
participation in Job Corps, and their
parents or family members.
• Migrant and seasonal agricultural
workers seeking placement and/or
information on protections afforded to
them in this work.
• Workers seeking information or
enforcement from a recipient regarding
wage and hour and safety and health
laws.
V. How Does a Recipient Determine the
Extent of Its Obligation To Provide LEP
Services?
Recipients are required to take
reasonable steps to ensure meaningful
access to their programs and activities
by LEP persons. While designed to be a
flexible and fact-dependent standard,
the starting point is an individualized
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7 The focus of the analysis is on lack of English
proficiency, not the ability to speak more than one
language. Note that demographic data may indicate
the most frequently spoken languages other than
English as well as the percentage of people who
speak other languages and who speak or understand
English less than well. Some of the most commonly
spoken languages other than English may be spoken
by people who are also overwhelmingly proficient
in English. Thus, they may not be the languages
spoken most frequently by limited English
proficient individuals. When using demographic
data, it is important to focus on the languages
spoken by those who are not proficient in English.
assessment that balances the following
four factors: (1) The number or
proportion of LEP persons served or
encountered in the eligible service
population; (2) the frequency with
which LEP individuals come in contact
with the program; (3) the nature and
importance of the program, activity, or
service provided by the recipient; and
(4) the resources available to the
recipient and costs. As indicated above,
the intent of this Guidance is to suggest
a balance that ensures meaningful
access by LEP persons to critical
services while not imposing undue
burdens on small businesses, small local
governments, or small non-profits.
After applying the above four-factor
analysis, a recipient may conclude that
different language assistance measures
are sufficient for the different types of
programs or activities in which it
engages. For instance, some of a
recipient’s activities will be more
important than others and/or have
greater impact on or contact with LEP
persons, and thus may require more in
the way of language assistance. The
flexibility that recipients have in
addressing the needs of the LEP
populations they serve does not
diminish, and should not be used to
minimize, the obligation that those
needs be addressed. DOL recipients
should apply the four factors to the
various kinds of contacts that they have
with the public to assess language needs
and decide what reasonable steps
should be taken to ensure meaningful
access for LEP persons.
(1) The Number or Proportion of LEP
Persons Served or Encountered in the
Eligible Service Population
One factor in determining what
language services recipients should
provide is the number or proportion of
LEP persons from a particular language
group served or encountered in the
eligible service population. The greater
the number or proportion of these LEP
persons, the more likely language
services are needed. Ordinarily, persons
‘‘eligible to be served, or likely to be
directly affected, by’’ a recipient’s
program or activity, 29 CFR 37.35(a), are
those who are served or encountered in
the eligible service population. This
population will be program-specific,
and includes persons who are in the
geographic area that has been approved
by a federal grant agency as the
recipient’s service area. However,
where, for instance, a recipient serves a
large LEP population, the appropriate
service area is most likely determined
by considering local service areas and
not the entire population served by the
recipient. This, for example, could
occur in a local workforce investment
area (local area) that manages more than
a single One-Stop Career Center. Instead
of being guided by a population survey
for the local area, each One-Stop Career
Center may wish to assess its local
service population.
We suggest that states operating
statewide programs, such as the
Unemployment Insurance program or
Workforce Investment Act programs,
assess statewide language groups to
identify potentially significant LEP
populations, and ensure that local
offices conduct similar surveys of their
local service populations. Small entities,
such as Vermont, Delaware, and the
District of Columbia, that operate only
a single local workforce investment
area, should assess their overall
populations with an awareness of any
‘‘pockets’’ of LEP persons that may exist
in certain areas (e.g., the Chinatown or
Adams Morgan (largely Spanish-speaking) areas of Washington, DC).
Where no service area has previously
been approved, the relevant service area
may be that which is approved by state
or local authorities or designated by the
recipient itself, provided that these
designations do not themselves
discriminatorily exclude certain
populations. For most workforce
investment services, the target audience
is defined in geographic rather than
programmatic terms. However, some
services may be targeted to reach a
particular audience (e.g., out-of-school
youth or migrant/seasonal farmworkers).
The attached Appendix provides
examples to assist in determining the
eligible service population. When
considering the number or proportion of
LEP individuals in a service area,
recipients should consider LEP parent(s)
when their English-proficient or LEP
minor children and dependents
encounter the workforce system,
including youth employment and
training programs and Job Corps.
In assessing the number or proportion
of LEP persons eligible to be served or
likely to be encountered, recipients
should first examine their prior
experiences with LEP encounters and
determine the breadth and scope of
language services that have been
needed. In conducting this analysis, it is
important to include language minority
populations that are eligible for
programs or activities but may have
been underserved because of existing
language barriers. Other data should be
consulted to refine or validate a
recipient’s prior experience, including
the latest census data for the area
served, data from school systems and
from community organizations, and data
from state and local governments.7
Community agencies, school systems,
faith-based organizations, legal aid
entities, and others can often assist in
identifying populations for whom
outreach is needed and who would
benefit from recipients’ programs and
activities where language services are
provided.
(2) The Frequency With Which LEP
Individuals Come in Contact With the
Program
Recipients should assess, as
accurately as possible, the frequency
with which they have or should have
contact with LEP individuals from
potential language groups seeking
assistance. The more frequent the
contact with a particular language
group, the more likely that enhanced
language services in that language are
needed. The steps that are reasonable
for a recipient that serves a LEP person
on a one-time basis will be very
different than those expected from a
recipient that serves LEP persons daily.
It is also advisable to consider the
frequency of different types of language
contacts. For example, frequent contacts
with Spanish-speaking people who are
LEP may require certain assistance in
Spanish. Less frequent contact with
different language groups may suggest a
different and less intensified solution. If
a LEP individual accesses a program or
service on a daily basis, a recipient has
greater duties than if the same
individual’s program or activity contact
is unpredictable or infrequent. But even
recipients that serve LEP persons on an
unpredictable or infrequent basis should
use this balancing analysis to determine
what to do if a LEP individual seeks
services under the program in question.
This plan need not be intricate. It may
be as simple as being prepared to use
one of the commercially-available
telephonic interpretation services to
obtain immediate interpreter services. In
applying this standard, recipients
should take care to consider whether
appropriate outreach to LEP persons
could increase the frequency of contact
with LEP language groups and therefore
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8 Consistent with footnote 2, supra, a
consideration of this factor should not be construed
as requiring DOL recipients to create new programs
under this Guidance.
9 Small recipients with limited resources may
find that entering into a bulk telephonic
interpretation service contract will prove cost
effective.
also increase the demand for language
assistance from these LEP populations.
(3) The Nature and Importance of the
Program, Activity, or Service Provided
by the Recipient
The more important the activity,
information, service, or program, or the
greater the possible consequences of the
contact to LEP individuals, the more
likely language services are needed. For
example, the requirements for filing a
claim for Unemployment Insurance or
Trade Adjustment Assistance or safety
and health information in the context of
Occupational Safety and Health or Mine
Safety and Health training programs
must be effectively communicated. A
recipient needs to determine whether
denial or delay of access to services or
information could have serious or even
life-threatening implications for a LEP
individual. Decisions by a federal, state,
or local entity to make an activity
compulsory, such as job training and/or
job search certification in the
Unemployment Insurance program, can
also serve as strong evidence of the
program’s importance.
Title VI does not require recipients to
remove language barriers when English
is an essential aspect of the program
(such as providing civil service
examinations in English when the job
requires a person to communicate in
English, see Frontera v. Sindell, 522
F.2d 1215 (6th Cir. 1975)), or when
there is another non-pretextual
‘‘substantial legitimate justification for
the challenged practice’’ and there is no
comparably effective alternative practice
with less discriminatory affects. Elston
v. Talladega County Bd. of Educ., 997
F.2d 1394, 1407 (11th Cir. 1993); New
York City Environmental Alliance v.
Giuliani, 214 F.3d 65, 72 (2nd Cir. 2000)
(plaintiffs failed to show less
discriminatory options available to
accomplish defendant city’s legitimate
goal of building new housing and
fostering urban renewal). However, DOL
recipients are providing a service to
assist individuals in employment, and
should consider that LEP individuals
can be learning English and another
skill at the same time.8 For example, a
recipient may not need to make
accessible certain health care
practitioner courses to LEP persons if
the ability to be fully proficient in
English is a legitimate requirement of
such training and the recipient has
made a legitimate determination that a
LEP person would not be eligible to
work in the field in the local job market
and at the level for which the training
is targeted. However, in order for such
determinations to be legitimate,
recipients should conduct an objective
analysis and not rely on stereotypes or
anecdotal evidence regarding level of
English proficiency required for such
employment, and should consider the
impact that participation in English-as-a-Second-Language courses may have
on the ability of the LEP person to
utilize the training.
(4) The Resources Available to the
Recipient and Costs
A recipient’s level of resources and
the costs that would be imposed on it
may have an impact on the nature of the
steps it should take in providing
language services. Smaller recipients
with more limited budgets are not
expected to provide the same level of
language services as are larger recipients
with larger budgets. In addition,
‘‘reasonable steps’’ may cease to be
reasonable when the costs imposed
substantially exceed the benefits. DOL
has determined that costs associated
with providing meaningful access to
LEP persons are considered allowable
program costs. This is consistent with
the discussion of administrative and
program costs under Title I of WIA
found in 20 CFR 667.220.
Resource and cost issues, however,
can often be reduced by technological
advances; the sharing of language
assistance materials and services among
and between recipients, advocacy
groups, and federal grant agencies; and
reasonable business practices. Where
appropriate, training bilingual staff to
act as interpreters and translators,
information sharing through industry
groups, telephonic and video
conferencing interpretation services,
pooling resources and standardizing
documents to reduce translation needs,
using qualified translators and
interpreters to ensure that documents
need not be ‘‘fixed’’ later and that
inaccurate interpretations do not cause
delay or other costs, centralizing
interpreter and translator services to
achieve economies of scale; or, the
formalized use of qualified community
volunteers, for example, may help
reduce costs.9 Recipients should
carefully explore the most cost-effective
means of delivering competent and
accurate language services before
limiting services due to resource
concerns. Large entities and those
entities serving a significant number or
proportion of LEP persons should
ensure that their resource limitations are
well-substantiated before using this
factor as a reason to limit language
assistance. Such recipients may find it
useful to be able to articulate, through
documentation or in some other
reasonable manner, the process used for
determining that language services
would be limited based on resources or
costs.
This four-factor analysis necessarily
implicates the ‘‘mix’’ of LEP services
required. Recipients have two main
ways to provide language services: Oral
interpretation either in person or via a
telephone interpretation service
(hereinafter ‘‘interpretation’’) and
written translation (hereinafter
‘‘translation’’). Oral interpretation can
range from on-site interpreters for
critical services provided to a high
volume of LEP persons to access
through commercially-available
telephonic interpretation services.
Written translation, likewise, can range
from translation of an entire document
to translation of a short description of
the document. In some cases, language
services should be made available on an
expedited basis while in others the LEP
individual may be referred to another
office of the recipient for language
assistance.
The correct mix should be based on
what is both necessary and reasonable
in light of the four-factor analysis. For
instance, a One-Stop Career Center in a
largely Hispanic neighborhood may
need immediate oral interpreters
available and should give serious
consideration to hiring some bilingual
staff. (Of course, many recipients have
already made such arrangements.) There
may be circumstances where the
importance and nature of the activity
and number or proportion and
frequency of contact with LEP persons
may be low and the costs and resources
needed to provide language services
may be high.
VI. Selecting Language Assistance
Services
Regardless of the type of language
service provided, for both oral and
written language services, quality and
accuracy of the language service is
critical in order to avoid serious
consequences to the LEP person and to
the recipient.
A. Oral Language Services
(Interpretation)
Interpretation is the act of listening to
something in one language (source
language) and orally translating it into
another language (target language).
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10 Consecutive interpretation is interpretation of
sentences/phrases immediately after they are
spoken, where the original speaker interrupts the
presentation to permit the interpretation.
Simultaneous interpretation (sometimes referred to
as UN-type translations) involves interpretation
occurring at the same time as the original spoken
text, where the original speaker does not stop or
interrupt their presentation to permit the
interpretation. Summarization involves an
interpreter listening to the original speaker in
another language and then summarizing the essence
of what was said, not what was actually said.
Summary interpretations are generally disfavored
by professional interpreters or translators. Sight
translation involves the translation of written text/
documents into spoken text based on a visual
review of the original form.
11 Many languages have ‘‘regionalisms,’’ or
differences in usage. For instance, a word that may
be understood to mean something in Spanish for
someone from Cuba may not be so understood by
someone from Mexico. In addition, because there
may be languages that do not have an appropriate
direct interpretation of some programmatic or legal
terms, the interpreter should be so aware and be
able to provide the most effective interpretation.
The interpreter should likely make the recipient
aware of such an issue so that the interpreter and
the recipient can then develop a consistent and
appropriate set of descriptions of these terms in the
target language that can be used in future
encounters.
12 For those languages in which no formal
accreditation or certification currently exists,
recipients should consider a formal process for
establishing the credentials of the interpreter.
Where interpretation is needed and is
reasonable, recipients should consider
some or all of the options discussed
below for providing competent
interpreters in a timely manner.
Competence of Interpreters. When
providing oral assistance, recipients
should ensure competency of the
language service providers, no matter
which of the following strategies are
used. Competency requires more than
self-identification as bilingual. Some
bilingual staff and community
volunteers, for instance, may be able to
communicate effectively in a language
other than English when
communicating information directly in
that language, but may not be competent
to interpret in and out of English.
Likewise, they may not be able to do
written translations.
Competency to interpret, however,
does not necessarily mean formal
certification as an interpreter, although
certification is helpful. When using
interpreters, recipients should ensure
that interpreters:
• Demonstrate proficiency and ability
to communicate information accurately
in both English and in the other
language and be able to identify and
employ the appropriate mode of
interpreting (e.g., consecutive,
simultaneous, summarization, or sight
translation); 10
• Have knowledge in both languages
of any specialized terms or concepts
peculiar to the recipient’s program or
activity and of any particularized
vocabulary and phraseology used by the
LEP person; 11
• Understand and follow
confidentiality and impartiality rules to
the same extent the recipient employee
for whom they are interpreting and/or to
the extent their position requires; and
• Understand and adhere to their role
as interpreters without deviating into a
role as counselor, legal advisor, or other
roles (particularly in administrative
hearings, such as UI appeals hearings).
Some recipients, such as those that
conduct administrative hearings, may
have additional self-imposed
requirements for interpreters. Where
individual rights depend on precise,
complete, and accurate interpretation or
translations, particularly in the context
of administrative hearings, the use of
certified interpreters is strongly
encouraged.12 Where such proceedings
are lengthy, the interpreter will likely
need breaks and team interpreting may
be appropriate to ensure accuracy and to
prevent errors caused by mental fatigue
of interpreters.
The quality and accuracy of language
services is part of the appropriate
analysis of LEP services required. For
example, the quality and accuracy of
language services in a UI appeals
hearing or safety and health training, for
example, must be extraordinarily high,
while the quality and accuracy of
language services in providing optional
career planning tools, such as ‘‘tests’’
that evaluate the type or style of work
for which a person might be suited,
need to be accurately translated, but
may not need to meet the same exacting
standards.
Finally, when interpretation is needed
and is reasonable, it should be provided
in a timely manner. To be meaningfully
effective, language assistance should be
timely. While there is no single
definition for ‘‘timely’’ that is applicable
to all types of interactions at all times
by all recipients, one clear guide is that
the language assistance should be
provided at a time and place that avoids
the effective denial or the imposition of
an undue burden on or delay in
important rights, benefits, or services to
the LEP person. For example, when the
timeliness of services is important, such
as with certain activities of DOL
recipients providing income security,
health, and safety services, and when
important programmatic rights, such as
eligibility for UI benefits, are at issue, a
recipient would likely not be providing
meaningful access if it had one bilingual
staff person available one day a week to
provide the service. Such conduct
would likely result in delays for LEP
persons that would be significantly
greater than those for English proficient
persons. Conversely, where access to or
exercise of a service, benefit, or right is
not effectively precluded by a
reasonable delay, language assistance
can likely be delayed for a reasonable
period.
Hiring Bilingual Staff. When
particular languages are encountered
often, hiring bilingual staff offers one of
the best, and often most economical,
options. Recipients can, for example, fill
public contact positions, such as One-
Stop Career Center receptionists or UI
claims examiners, with staff who are
bilingual and competent to
communicate directly with LEP persons
in the appropriate language. If bilingual
staff is also used to interpret between
English speakers and LEP persons, or to
orally interpret written documents from
English into another language, they
should be competent in the skill of
interpreting. Being bilingual does not
necessarily mean that a person has the
ability to interpret. In addition, there
may be times when the role of the
bilingual employee may conflict with
the role of an interpreter (for instance,
a bilingual hearings examiner would
probably not be able to perform
effectively the role of an administrative
hearing interpreter and hearings
examiner at the same time, even if the
hearings examiner were a qualified
interpreter). Effective management
strategies, including any appropriate
adjustments in assignments and
protocols for using bilingual staff, can
ensure that bilingual staff is fully and
appropriately utilized. When an
analysis of the four factors leads to a
conclusion that the provision of services
through bilingual staff is not a
reasonable step, the recipient still
should consider other options for
providing meaningful access to LEP
persons.
Hiring Staff Interpreters. Hiring
interpreters may be most helpful where
there is a frequent need for interpreting
services in one or more languages.
Depending on the facts, sometimes it
may be necessary and reasonable to
provide on-site interpreters to
communicate effectively with LEP
persons.
Contracting for Interpreters. Contract
interpreters may be a cost-effective
option when there is no regular need for
a particular language skill. In addition
to commercial and other private
providers, many community-based
organizations provide interpretation
services for particular languages.
Contracting with and providing training
regarding the recipient’s programs and
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processes to these organizations can be
a cost-effective option for providing
language services to LEP persons from
those language groups.
Using Telephone Interpreter Lines.
Telephone interpreter service lines often
offer speedy interpreting assistance in
many different languages. They may be
particularly appropriate where the mode
of communicating with an English
proficient person would also occur over
the phone. Although telephonic
interpretation services are useful in
many situations, it is important to
ensure that, when using such services,
the interpreters are competent to
interpret any technical or legal terms
specific to a particular program that may
be important to the conversation.
Nuances in language and non-verbal
communication can often assist an
interpreter and cannot be recognized
over the phone. Video teleconferencing
may sometimes help to resolve this
issue. In addition, where documents are
being discussed, it is important to give
telephonic interpreters adequate
opportunity to review the documents
prior to the discussion. Any other
logistical problems should also be
anticipated.
Using Community Volunteers. In
addition to consideration of bilingual
staff, staff interpreters, or contract
interpreters (either in-person or by
telephone) as options to ensure
meaningful access by LEP persons, use
of recipient-coordinated community
volunteers, working with, for instance,
community-based organizations may
provide a cost-effective supplemental
language assistance strategy under
appropriate circumstances. They may be
particularly useful in providing
language access for a recipient’s less
critical programs and activities. To the
extent the recipient relies on
community volunteers, it is often best to
use volunteers who are trained in the
information or services of the program
and can communicate directly with LEP
persons in their language. Just as with
all interpreters, community volunteers
used to interpret between English
speakers and LEP persons, or to orally
translate documents, should be
competent in the skill of interpreting
and knowledgeable about applicable
confidentiality and impartiality rules.
Recipients should consider formal
arrangements with community-based
organizations that provide volunteers to
address these concerns and to help
ensure that services are available on a
regular basis.
Use of Family Members, Friends, or
Other Community Members as
Interpreters. Although recipients should
not plan to rely on a LEP person’s
family members, friends, or other
informal interpreters to provide
language assistance services to
important programs and activities,
where LEP persons so desire, they
should be permitted to use, at their own
expense, interpreters of their own
choosing (whether a professional
interpreter, family member, friend, or
other informal interpreter) in place of or
as a supplement to the free language
services expressly offered by the
recipient. LEP persons may feel more
comfortable when a trusted family
member, friend, or other community
member acts as an interpreter. In
addition, in exigent circumstances that
are not reasonably foreseeable,
temporary use of interpreters not
provided by the recipient may be
necessary. However, with proper
planning and implementation,
recipients should be able to avoid most
of these situations.
Recipients, however, should take
special care to ensure that family,
friends, and other informal interpreters
are appropriate in light of the
circumstances and subject matter of the
program, service or activity. The
recipients’ own interests in accurate
interpretation should also be considered
when deciding whether family, friends,
and other informal interpreters are
appropriate. In many circumstances,
family members (especially children),
friends, or other informal interpreters
are not competent to provide quality
and accurate interpretations. Issues of
confidentiality, privacy, or conflict of
interest may also arise. LEP individuals
may feel uncomfortable revealing or
describing sensitive, confidential, or
potentially embarrassing family,
employment history, or financial
information to a family member, friend,
or member of the local community. For
these reasons, when oral language
services are necessary, recipients should
generally offer competent interpreter
services free of cost to the LEP person.
While issues of competency,
confidentiality, and conflict of interest
in the use of family members (especially
children), friends, or other informal
interpreters often make their use
inappropriate, the use of these
individuals as interpreters may be an
appropriate option where proper
application of the four factors would
lead to a conclusion that recipient-provided services are not necessary. An
example of this is an optional ‘‘Dress for
Success’’ workshop offered by a One-
Stop Career Center where there is such
a small number and/or proportion of
LEP persons eligible to be served and
there is no available bilingual staff,
volunteers, or interpreters available.
There, the importance and nature of the
activity may be relatively low and
unlikely to implicate issues of
confidentiality, conflict of interest, or
the need for accuracy. In addition, the
resources needed and costs of providing
language services may be high. In such
a setting, a LEP person’s use of family,
friends, or others may be appropriate.
If a LEP person voluntarily chooses to
provide his or her own interpreter, a
recipient should consider whether a
record of that choice and of the
recipient’s offer of assistance should be
kept. Where precise, complete, and
accurate interpretations or translations
of information and/or testimony are
critical for adjudicatory or legal reasons,
or where the competency of the LEP
person’s interpreter is not established, a
recipient might decide to provide its
own, independent interpreter, even if a
LEP person wants to use his or her own
interpreter as well. Extra caution should
be exercised when the LEP person
chooses to use a minor as the
interpreter. While the LEP person’s
decision should be respected, there may
be additional issues of competency,
confidentiality, or conflict of interest
when the choice involves using children
to interpret. The recipient should take
care to ensure that the LEP person’s
choice is voluntary, that the LEP person
is aware of the possible problems if the
preferred interpreter is a minor child,
and that the LEP person knows that a
competent interpreter could be provided
by the recipient at no cost.
B. Written Language Services
(Translation)
Translation is the replacement of a
written text from one language (source
language) into an equivalent written text
in another language (target language).
What Documents Should be
Translated? After applying the four-factor analysis, a recipient may
determine that an effective LEP plan for
its particular program or activity
includes the translation of vital written
materials into the language of each
frequently-encountered LEP group
eligible to be served and/or likely to be
affected by the recipient’s program.
Such written materials could include:
• Applications to participate in a
recipient’s program or activity or to
receive recipient benefits or services;
• Written tests that do not assess
English language competency, but test
competency for a particular license, job,
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13 Test translation raises technical testing issues
and needs to be done in an appropriate manner if
the test is to retain validity and reliability. Some
tests are available in different languages. For
example, the GED is available in Spanish and
French, as well as English. So recipients may be
able to check for the availability of tests in other
languages from the test developer. Where no test is
available in a language and translation is not
immediately possible, it might be more appropriate
to evaluate a LEP individual with another test or
procedure that does not inappropriately implicate
their limited English skills.
14 For those languages in which no formal
accreditation currently exists, a particular level of
membership in a professional translation
association can provide some indicator of
professionalism.
or skill for which English language
proficiency is not required; 13
• Consent and complaint forms;
• List of partners at a One-Stop Career
Center and services provided;
• Letters containing important
information regarding participation in a
program or activity;
• Notices pertaining to the reduction,
denial or termination of services or
benefits and of the right to appeal such
actions;
• Notices that require a response from
beneficiaries;
• Information on the right to file
complaints of discrimination;
• Information on the provision of
services to individuals with disabilities;
• State wage and hour and safety and
health enforcement and information
materials;
• Notices advising LEP persons of the
availability of free language assistance;
and
• Other outreach materials.
Whether or not a document (or the
information it provides and/or solicits)
is ‘‘vital’’ may depend upon the
importance of the program, information,
encounter, or service involved, and the
consequence to the LEP person if the
information in question is not provided
accurately or in a timely manner. For
instance, a description of books
contained in the resource room of a
One-Stop Career Center would not
generally be considered vital, whereas
applications for Unemployment
Insurance or information about safety
and health requirements could be
considered vital. Where appropriate,
recipients are encouraged to create a
plan for consistently determining, over
time and across its various activities,
what documents are ‘‘vital’’ to the
meaningful access of the LEP
populations they serve.
Classifying a document as vital or
non-vital is sometimes difficult,
especially in the case of outreach
materials like brochures or other
information on rights and services.
Awareness of rights or services is an
important part of ‘‘meaningful access.’’
Lack of awareness that a particular
program, right, or service exists may
effectively deny LEP individuals
meaningful access. Thus, where a
recipient is engaged in community
outreach activities in furtherance of its
programs or services, it should regularly
assess the needs of the populations
frequently encountered or affected by
the program or service to determine
whether certain critical outreach
materials should be translated.
Community organizations may be
helpful in determining what outreach
materials may be most helpful to
translate. In addition, the recipient
should consider whether translations of
outreach material may be made more
effective when done in tandem with
other outreach methods, including
utilizing the ethnic media, schools,
faith-based and other community
organizations to spread the message.
Sometimes a document includes both
vital and non-vital information. This
may be the case when the document is
very large. It may also be the case when
the title and a phone number for
obtaining more information on the
contents of the document in frequently-encountered languages other than
English is critical, but the document is
sent out to the general public and
cannot reasonably be translated into
many languages. Thus, vital information
may include, for instance, the provision
of information in appropriate languages
other than English regarding where a
LEP person might obtain an
interpretation or translation of the
document.
Into What Languages Should
Documents be Translated? The
languages spoken by the LEP
individuals with whom the recipient
has contact determine the languages
into which vital documents should be
translated. A distinction should be
made, however, between languages that
are frequently encountered by a
recipient and less commonly-encountered languages. Many recipients
serve communities in large cities or
across the country or operate web-based,
self-service systems as an adjunct to
their in-person delivery systems that
also have a regional or national reach.
They regularly serve LEP persons who
speak dozens and sometimes over 100
different languages. To translate all
written materials into all of those
languages is unrealistic. Although
recent technological advances have
made it easier for recipients to store and
share translated documents, such an
undertaking would incur substantial
costs and require substantial resources.
Nevertheless, well-substantiated claims
of lack of resources to translate all vital
documents into dozens of languages do
not necessarily relieve a recipient of the
obligation to translate those documents
into at least several of the more
frequently-encountered languages and
to set benchmarks for continued
translations into the remaining
languages over time. As a result, the
extent of a recipient’s obligation to
provide written translations of
documents should be determined by the
recipient on a case-by-case basis,
looking at the totality of the
circumstances in light of the four-factor
analysis. Because translation is a one-time expense, consideration should be
given to whether the upfront cost of
translating a document (as opposed to
oral interpretation) should be amortized
over the likely lifespan of the document
when applying this four-factor analysis.
The length of a document’s lifespan and
the volume of new documents requiring
translation may also be a factor in this
determination. For example, in
transaction-based self-service websites,
such as labor exchange/job matching,
the lifespan of a typical document such
as a job order may only be 30 days and
the volume of such documents may
easily number 1,000 or more each day.
In such circumstances, depending on
the four factors, recipients might
consider translating only certain
portions of such documents and/or
providing information in appropriate
languages on how to obtain free
language assistance, if the technology
allows.
Competence of Translators. As with
oral interpreters, translators of written
documents should be competent. Many
of the same considerations apply.
However, the skill of translating is very
different from the skill of interpreting,
and a person who is a competent
interpreter may or may not be
competent to translate.
Particularly where vital documents
are being translated, competence can
often be achieved by use of certified
translators. Certification or accreditation
may not always be possible or
necessary.14 Competence can often be
ensured by having a second,
independent translator ‘‘check’’ the
work of the primary translator.
Alternatively, one translator can
translate the document, and a second,
independent translator could translate it
back into English to check that the
appropriate meaning has been
conveyed. This is called ‘‘back
translation.’’
Translators should understand the
expected reading level of the audience
and, where appropriate, have
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15 For instance, there may be languages that do
not have an appropriate direct translation of some
programmatic or legal terms and the translator
should be able to provide an appropriate
translation. The translator should likely also make
the recipient aware of this. Recipients can then
work with translators to develop a consistent and
appropriate set of descriptions of these terms in the
language that can be used again, when appropriate.
Recipients will find it more effective and less costly
if they try to maintain consistency in the words and
phrases used to translate terms of art and legal or
other technical concepts. Creating or using already-created glossaries of commonly used terms may be
useful for LEP persons and translators and cost-effective for the recipient. Providing translators
with examples of previous translations of similar
material by the recipient, other recipients, or federal
agencies may be helpful.
16 Certain recipients of DOL financial assistance
are required, per 29 CFR 37.54, to establish and
adhere to a Methods of Administration (MOA). Per
the regulations, MOAs must be in writing, reviewed
and updated every two years as required by Section
37.55, and, at a minimum, describe how the state
programs and recipients have satisfied the
requirements of regulations, including those found
at Sections 37.35 and 37.42.
fundamental knowledge about the target
language group’s vocabulary and
phraseology. Sometimes direct
translation of materials results in a
translation that is written at a much
more difficult level than the English
language version or has no relevant
equivalent meaning.15 Community
organizations may be able to help
consider whether a document is written
at a good level for the audience.
Likewise, consistency in the words and
phrases used to translate terms of art,
legal, or other technical concepts helps
avoid confusion by LEP individuals and
may reduce costs. Creating or using
already-created glossaries of commonly-used terms may be useful for LEP
persons and translators and cost
effective for the recipient. Providing
translators with examples of previous
accurate translations of similar material
by the recipient, other recipients, or
federal agencies may be helpful.
The quality and accuracy of language
services is part of the appropriate
analysis of LEP services required. For
instance, documents that are simple and
have no legal or other consequence for
LEP persons who rely on them may use
translators that are less skilled than
important documents with legal or other
information upon which reliance has
important consequences (including, e.g.,
information or documents of DOL
recipients regarding the provision of
income security benefits, such as UI,
and health and safety training). The
permanent nature of written
translations, however, imposes
additional responsibility on the
recipient to ensure that the quality and
accuracy permit meaningful access by
LEP persons.
VII. Elements of an Effective Plan on
Language Assistance for LEP Persons
After completing the four-factor
analysis and deciding what language
assistance services are appropriate, a
recipient should develop an
implementation plan to address the
identified needs of the LEP populations
they serve.16 Recipients have
considerable flexibility in developing
this plan. A written plan, while not a
requirement, can be an important tool
for a recipient. The development and
maintenance of a periodically-updated
written plan on language assistance for
LEP persons (‘‘LEP plan’’) for use by
recipient employees serving the public
will likely be the most appropriate and
cost-effective means of documenting
compliance and providing a framework
for the provision of timely and
reasonable language assistance.
Moreover, such written plans would
likely provide additional benefits to a
recipient’s managers in the areas of
training, administration, planning, and
budgeting. These benefits should lead
most recipients to document in a
written LEP plan their language
assistance services and how staff and
LEP persons can access those services.
Despite these benefits, certain DOL
recipients, such as recipients serving
very few LEP persons and recipients
with very limited resources, may choose
not to develop a written LEP plan.
However, the absence of a written LEP
plan does not obviate the underlying
obligation to ensure meaningful access
by LEP persons to a recipient’s program
or activities. Accordingly, in the event
that a recipient elects not to develop a
written plan, it should consider
alternative ways to articulate in some
other reasonable manner a plan for
providing meaningful access. Entities
having significant contact with LEP
persons, such as schools, faith-based
organizations, community groups, and
groups working with new immigrants,
can be very helpful in providing
important input into this planning
process from the beginning.
The following five elements may be
helpful in designing a LEP plan and are
typically part of an effective
implementation plan.
(1) Identifying LEP Individuals Who
Need Language Assistance
The first two factors in the four-factor
analysis require an assessment of the
number or proportion of LEP
individuals eligible to be served or
encountered and the frequency of
encounters. This requires a recipient to
identify LEP persons with whom it has
contact.
One way to determine the language of
communication is to use language
identification cards (or ‘‘I speak cards’’),
which invite LEP persons to identify
their language needs to staff. Such
cards, for instance, might read ‘‘I speak
Spanish’’ in both Spanish and English,
‘‘I speak Vietnamese’’ in both English
and Vietnamese, etc. To reduce costs of
compliance, the federal government has
made a set of these cards available on
the Internet. The Census Bureau ‘‘I
speak cards’’ can be found and
downloaded at http://www.usdoj.gov/
crt/cor/13166.htm. When records are
normally kept of past interactions with
members of the public, the language of
the LEP person can be included as part
of the record. In addition to helping
employees identify the language of LEP
persons they encounter, this process
will help in future applications of the
first two factors of the four-factor
analysis. In addition, posting notices in
commonly encountered languages
notifying LEP persons of the availability
of language assistance will encourage
them to self-identify.
Recipients should also consider
circumstances in which, although the
participant and/or beneficiary can
communicate effectively in English,
assistance may be needed when
interacting with other pertinent
individuals. For example, if a youth
under the age of eighteen needs a
parent’s signature to participate in a
summer employment program, language
assistance may be necessary to provide
information and obtain the necessary
permission. Recipients should also be
aware of external circumstances that
may impact the number of persons (LEP
or otherwise) seeking government
assistance. For example, recipients may
experience an ebb and flow of persons
working in agricultural jobs depending
on the season, the success of harvest,
and other factors such as weather
(droughts or floods). Changes in the
economy may disproportionately force
low-income individuals (as LEPs tend to
be) to turn to government programs for
assistance.
(2) Language Assistance Measures
An effective LEP plan would likely
include information about the ways in
which language assistance will be
provided. For instance, recipients may
want to include information on at least
the following:
• Types of language services
available;
• How staff can obtain those services;
• How to respond to LEP callers;
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17 The Social Security Administration has made
such signs available at: http://www.ssa.gov/
multilanguage/langlist1.htm. These signs could be
modified for recipient use.
• How to respond to written
communications from LEP persons;
• How to respond to LEP individuals
who have in-person contact with
recipient staff; and
• How to ensure competency of
interpreters and translation services.
(3) Training Staff
Staff should know their obligations to
provide meaningful access to
information and services for LEP
persons. An effective LEP plan would
likely include training to ensure that:
• Staff know about LEP policies and
procedures; and
• Staff having contact with the public
are trained to work effectively with in-person and telephone interpreters.
Recipients may want to include this
training as part of the orientation for
new employees. It is important to
ensure that all employees in public
contact positions are properly trained.
Recipients have flexibility in deciding
the manner in which the training is
provided. The more frequent the contact
with LEP persons, the greater the need
will be for in-depth training. Staff with
little or no contact with LEP persons
may only have to be aware of the LEP
plan. However, management staff, even
if they do not interact regularly with
LEP persons, should be fully aware of
and understand the plan so they can
reinforce its importance and ensure its
implementation by staff.
(4) Providing Notice to LEP Persons
Once a recipient has decided, based
on the four factors, that it will provide
certain language services, it is important
for the recipient to let LEP persons
know that those services are available
and that they will be offered free of
charge. Recipients should provide
notice of the availability of language
assistance services in language(s) that
LEP persons will understand. Examples
of notification that recipients should
consider include:
• Posting signs in intake areas and
other entry points. When language
assistance is needed to ensure
meaningful access to information and
services, it is important to provide
notice in appropriate languages in
intake areas or initial points of contact
so that LEP persons can learn how to
access those language services. This is
particularly true in areas with high
volumes of LEP persons seeking access
to certain workforce and income
security programs, services or activities
run by DOL recipients. For instance,
signs in One-Stop Career Centers could
state that free language assistance is
available. The signs should be translated
into the most common languages
encountered. They should explain how
to obtain the language help.17
• Stating in outreach documents that
language services are available from the
recipient. Announcements could be in,
for instance, brochures, booklets, and in
other outreach and recruitment
information. These statements should be
translated into the most common
languages and could be ‘‘tagged’’ onto
the front of common documents.
• Working with community-based
organizations and other stakeholders to
inform LEP individuals of the
recipients’ programs and activities,
including the availability of language
assistance services.
• Using a telephone voice mail menu.
The menu could be in the most common
languages encountered. It should
provide information about available
language assistance services and how to
access them.
• Including notices in local
newspapers in languages other than
English.
• Airing notices on non-English
language radio and television stations
about the availability of language
assistance and how to access it.
• Making presentations and/or
posting notices at schools, faith-based
and other community organizations.
(5) Monitoring and Updating the LEP
Plan
Recipients should, where appropriate,
have a process for determining, on an
ongoing basis, whether new documents,
programs, services, and activities need
to be made accessible for LEP
individuals, and they may want to
provide notice of any changes in
services to the LEP public and to
employees. In addition, recipients
should consider whether changes in
demographics, types of services, or
other factors require annual
reevaluation of LEP plans. Less frequent
reevaluation may be more appropriate
where demographics, services, and
needs are more static. One good way to
evaluate the LEP plan is to seek
feedback from the community. In their
reviews, recipients may want to
consider assessing changes in:
• Current LEP populations in service
area or population affected or
encountered;
• Frequency of encounters with LEP
language groups;
• Nature and importance of activities
to LEP persons;
• Availability of resources, including
technological advances and sources of
additional resources, and the costs
imposed;
• Whether existing assistance is
meeting the needs of LEP persons;
• Whether staff knows and
understands the LEP plan and how to
implement it;
• Legislation or program
requirements governing the recipient’s
program or activity; and
• Whether identified sources for
assistance are still available and viable.
In addition to these five elements,
effective plans set clear goals,
management accountability, and
opportunities for community input and
planning throughout the process.
VIII. Voluntary Compliance Efforts
The goal for Title VI and Title VI
regulatory enforcement is to achieve
voluntary compliance. The requirement
to provide meaningful access to LEP
persons is enforced and implemented by
DOL through the procedures identified
in the Title VI and Section 188
regulations. These procedures include
complaint investigations, compliance
reviews, efforts to secure voluntary
compliance, and technical assistance.
DOL’s Civil Rights Center (CRC)
enforces Title VI and Section 188
through the procedures identified in the
regulations in 29 CFR parts 31 and 37.
The regulations state that CRC will
investigate any complaint, report or
other information that alleges or
indicates possible noncompliance with
Title VI and Section 188. If the
investigation results in a finding of
compliance, CRC will inform the
recipient in writing of this
determination, including the basis for
the determination. If the investigation
results in a finding of noncompliance,
CRC will inform the recipient of the
noncompliance in a Letter of Findings
that sets out the areas of noncompliance
and the steps that must be taken to
correct the noncompliance. At this
stage, CRC will attempt to secure
voluntary compliance through informal
means. If the matter cannot be resolved
informally, compliance may be
effectuated through (a) the termination
of federal assistance after the recipient
has been given an opportunity for an
administrative hearing; (b) referral to
DOJ for injunctive relief or other
enforcement proceedings; or (c) any
other means authorized by law. CRC has
a legal obligation to seek voluntary
compliance in resolving cases and
cannot seek the termination of funds
until it has engaged in voluntary
compliance efforts and has determined
that compliance cannot be secured
voluntarily.
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CRC engages in voluntary compliance
efforts and provides technical assistance
to recipients at all stages. During efforts
to secure voluntary compliance, CRC
will propose reasonable timetables for
achieving compliance and will consult
with and assist recipients in exploring
cost effective ways of coming into
compliance by increasing awareness of
emerging technologies and by sharing
information on how other recipients
have addressed the language needs of
diverse populations. In determining a
recipient’s compliance with Title VI and
Section 188, CRC’s primary concern is
to ensure that the recipient’s policies
and procedures overcome barriers
resulting from language differences that
would deny LEP persons meaningful
opportunities to participate in and
access programs, services and benefits.
A recipient’s appropriate consideration
of the methods and options discussed in
this Guidance will be viewed by CRC as
evidence of a recipient’s willingness to
comply with its Title VI and Section 188
obligations.
While all recipients must work
toward building systems that will
ensure access for LEP individuals, DOL
acknowledges that the implementation
of a comprehensive system to serve LEP
individuals is a process and that a
system will evolve over time as it is
implemented and periodically
reevaluated. As recipients take
reasonable steps to provide meaningful
access to federally assisted programs
and activities for LEP persons, DOL will
look favorably on intermediate steps
recipients take that are consistent with
this Guidance, and that, as part of a
broader implementation plan or
schedule, move their service delivery
systems toward providing full access to
LEP persons. This does not excuse
noncompliance but instead recognizes
that full compliance in all areas of a
recipient’s activities and for all potential
language minority groups may
reasonably require a series of
implementing actions over a period of
time. However, in developing any
phased implementation schedule, DOL
recipients should ensure that the
provision of appropriate assistance for
significant LEP populations or with
respect to activities having a significant
impact on the health, safety, legal rights,
or livelihood of beneficiaries is
addressed first. Recipients are
encouraged to document their efforts to
provide LEP persons with meaningful
access to federally assisted programs
and activities.
Appendix—Application to Specific
Types of Recipients
This Appendix provides examples of how
the meaningful access requirement of the
Title VI and Section 188 of WIA regulations
applies to state workforce agencies and other
recipients of DOL financial assistance. These
examples highlight best practices and ideal
approaches to serving LEP individuals in a
variety of situations. It is important to note
that not all recipients may find these
approaches useful or necessary once they
apply the four-factor analysis to their
individual situation. This Appendix also
suggests ways that DOL recipients can apply
the four-factor analysis to a range of
encounters with the public as the
responsibility for providing language services
differs depending on the program or activity.
The four factors are:
• The number or proportion of LEP
persons served or encountered in the eligible
service population;
• The frequency with which LEP
individuals come in contact with the
program;
• The nature and importance of the
program, activity, or service provided by the
program; and
• The resources available to the recipient
and costs.
This Appendix is also designed to help
DOL recipients identify the population to be
considered when assessing the types of
language services to provide. It then offers
guidance and examples on how to apply the
four-factor analysis to specific requirements
of DOL-assisted programs and services, such
as:
• Receiving and responding to requests for
information and services;
• Applications for benefits such as trade
and Unemployment Insurance benefits;
• Adjudications;
• Notifications of decisions;
• Intake, orientation and assessment;
• Training services; and
• Community outreach.
Appendix—Application of LEP
Guidance for Specific Types of DOL
Recipients
While a wide range of entities receive
federal financial assistance through DOL,
most of DOL’s assistance is awarded to
Governors or local chief elected officials in
the form of formula or competitive grants for
the provision of training, including job
training, and income support programs. This
Appendix provides examples to demonstrate
how DOL recipients might apply the four-factor analysis. The examples in this
Appendix are not meant to be exhaustive.
The four-factor analysis requires a balancing,
given all of the facts. Each different situation
will present some unique aspects. The
examples are intended only to show how the
four-factor analysis may be applied in some
situations.
The requirements of the Title VI and
Section 188 regulations, as clarified by the
LEP Guidance, supplement, but do not
supplant, other statutory or regulatory
provisions that may require LEP services.
Rather, the LEP Guidance clarifies the
obligation under both the Title VI and
Section 188 regulations to address, in
appropriate circumstances and in a
reasonable manner, the language assistance
needs of LEP individuals.
For the vast majority of the public,
exposure to federally-assisted job training or
income support programs includes applying
for and receiving Unemployment Insurance
(UI) benefits or conducting job search
activities through the One-Stop Career
System. For a smaller number, exposure
includes participation in a job training
program under WIA or the Trade Act of 1974
including Trade Adjustment Assistance
(TAA). The common thread running through
these and other interactions with the
federally-assisted workforce system is the
exchange of information and services. LEP
individuals’ encounters with One-Stop
Career Centers, including UI Call Centers, are
covered by Title VI because they are funded
wholly or in part by DOL. This Guidance
focuses on the requirement that DOL
recipients communicate effectively with
persons who are LEP to ensure that they have
meaningful access to the workforce
investment system, including, for example,
understanding how to apply for job training
and/or UI benefits.
Many DOL recipients already provide
language services in a wide variety of
circumstances. For example, in areas where
significant LEP populations reside, One-Stop
Career Center staff may utilize forms and
notices in languages other than English and/
or they may employ bilingual front-line staff.
Recipients’ current practices can form a
strong basis for applying the four-factor
analysis and complying with Title VI and
WIA Section 188 regulations.
In general, when providing language
services, DOL recipients may: (1) Make
available the staff and materials necessary to
supply required language services; (2) choose
to require an entity with which they have
contracted to provide the services; or (3)
contract with another entity to provide those
services. Recipients have a wide variety of
options for providing interpreter and
translation services appropriate to the
particular situation. Using bilingual staff
competent to interpret in person or over the
phone is one option. Additionally, particular
recipients may enter into agreements with
local colleges and universities, interpreter
services, and/or community organizations to
provide competent paid or volunteer
translators.
1. General Principles
The touchstone of the four-factor analysis
is reasonableness based upon the specific
purposes, needs, and capabilities of the DOL
recipient and an appreciation of the nature
and particular needs of the LEP population
served. Accordingly, the four-factor analysis
cannot provide a single uniform answer
about how service to LEP persons must be
provided in all programs or activities in all
situations or to what extent such service need
be provided.
Knowledge of local conditions and
community needs is critical in determining
the type and level of language services
needed. The following general points should
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assist DOL recipients in correctly applying
the four-factor analysis to the wide range of
services provided in their particular
communities.
a. Permanent Versus Seasonal Populations
In assessing factor one, the number or
proportion of LEP individuals, DOL
recipients should consider any temporary but
significant changes in a community’s
demographics. In many areas, resident
populations change over time or according to
season. For example, in some resort
communities, populations swell during peak
vacation periods, many times exceeding the
number of permanent residents in the area.
In other communities, primarily agricultural
areas, transient populations of agricultural
workers require increased workforce
investment services during planting and
harvest seasons. This dynamic demographic
ebb and flow can also dramatically change
the size and nature of the LEP community
that is likely to come into contact with
workforce entities. Thus, workforce entities
may not want to limit their analysis to
numbers and proportions of permanent
residents.
Example: A rural community has a
permanent population of 30,000, of which
seven percent is Hispanic. Based on census
data and on information from the contiguous
school district, only 15 percent of the
Hispanic population is estimated to be LEP.
Thus, the total estimated permanent LEP
population is 315 persons or approximately
one percent of the total permanent
population. Under the four-factor analysis, a
workforce entity could reasonably conclude
that the small number of LEP persons makes
the translation of vital documents and/or
employment of bilingual staff unnecessary.
However, during the spring and summer
planting and harvest seasons, the local
population swells to 40,000 due to the influx
of seasonal agricultural workers. Of this
temporary population, about 75 percent is
Hispanic and about 50 percent of that
number is LEP. According to data supplied
by the contiguous school district and a
migrant worker community group, during the
planting and harvest seasons, the
community’s LEP population increases to
over ten percent of all residents. In this case,
a DOL recipient should consider whether it
is necessary to translate vital written
documents into Spanish. In addition, the
predictability of contact during those seasons
makes it important for the community to
review its interpretative services to ensure
meaningful access for LEP individuals.
b. Target Audiences
For most workforce investment services,
the target audience is defined in geographic
rather than programmatic terms. However,
some services may be targeted to reach a
particular audience (e.g., out-of-school youth
or migrant and seasonal farmworkers). Also,
within the larger geographic area covered by
a workforce entity, certain areas or
neighborhoods may have concentrations of
LEP persons. In these cases, even if the
overall number or proportion of LEP
individuals in the area is low, the frequency
of contact may be higher for certain areas or
programs. Thus, the second factor, frequency
of contact, should be considered in light of
the specific program or the geographic area
served.
Example: A community-based organization
(CBO) is partnering with a local One-Stop
Career Center to provide services to
dislocated workers who have lost their jobs
due to several recent textile plant closures.
The LEP population of the community is
estimated at only three percent. However, the
LEP population of the workers dislocated by
the closures is 35 percent, the vast majority
of whom speak Vietnamese. As the target
population for this CBO is confined to the
dislocated workers, the number or proportion
of LEP persons in the eligible service
population would be calculated based on
these workers. The applicable LEP factor
would be the frequency with which LEP
individuals come in contact with the
program, which in this instance would
involve a much higher percentage of LEP
individuals than that of the general
population. Further, because the Vietnamese
LEP population is concentrated in one or two
main areas of the town, the CBO should
expect the frequency of contact with
Vietnamese LEP individuals, in general, to be
quite high in those areas, and it should apply
the four-factor analysis accordingly with
respect to the services it provides.
c. Importance of Service/Information
DOL recipients play a critical role in
providing workforce services, income
support, and health and safety training for
many Americans. UI, health and safety
services provided through the Occupational
Safety and Health and Mine Safety and
Health Administrations, information and
enforcement of State and local wage and hour
laws and other workers’ rights enforcement
issues taken on by recipients, and
employment services rank high on the
critical/non-critical continuum. However,
this does not mean that information about all
services and activities performed by
workforce entities must be equally available
in languages other than English. While
clearly important to the ultimate success of
the workforce investment system, certain
activities do not have the same direct impact
on the provision of core workforce
investment services. The more important the
program or activity or the greater the possible
consequences of the contact for LEP
individuals, the more likely language
assistance services will be necessary.
Example: The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine
Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)
provide grants to recipients to conduct safety
and health training to individuals employed
in many dangerous occupations, such as
construction and mining. Much of the
training involves learning how to take
precautions to avoid accidents or injuries
while on the job. Where individuals could
sustain bodily harm if training is not
provided in an understandable language, the
need for appropriate communication is
extremely high.
There may be some instances in which the
four-factor analysis of a particular portion of
a recipient’s program or activity leads to the
conclusion that language services are not
currently required. For instance, the four-factor analysis may not necessarily require
that an advanced level computer course be
given in languages other than English, if the
language-related requirements for such an
employment path is such that few, if any,
LEP persons would benefit from the
particular course even if it were made
accessible to them and even if they are in the
process of learning English (see Section V(3)
above regarding such determinations), and if
the other three factors also weigh against
providing the service. However, a recipient
may decide to provide other computer
courses in languages other than English given
demographics of the area and the potential
benefit to the LEP population. Because the
analysis is fact-dependent, the same
conclusion may not be appropriate with
respect to all computer courses or to other
courses.
2. Applying the Four-Factor Analysis to the
Full Spectrum of Services
While all workforce investment activities
are important, the four-factor analysis
requires some prioritizing so that language
services are targeted where they are most
needed depending on the nature and
importance of the particular service
provided. Workforce entities have a great
deal of flexibility in determining how to best
address outreach to their LEP populations. In
order to determine what is reasonable under
the four-factor analysis, consider that the
obligation to provide language services
increases where the importance of the
activity is greater. Under this framework,
critical areas for language assistance would
include applications for UI or trade-related
benefits and adjudications of issues regarding
benefits. Systems for receiving and
addressing complaints from the public are
also important. Employment services are of
great importance for persons who are not
currently employed. Community outreach
activities are hard to categorize and generally
less critical than other activities unless
barriers to participation (such as limited
availability of language services) exist. With
the importance of community partnerships
and involvement, the four-factor analysis
should be considered when evaluating the
need for language services with respect to
these programs.
a. Receiving and Responding to Requests for
Assistance
Taking reasonable steps to provide
meaningful access to workforce investment
services will entail different things in
different communities. For instance, in areas
with significant LEP communities, some
intake workers and claims examiners may
need to be bilingual and capable of
accurately interpreting in high stress
situations. Recipients in areas with small LEP
populations should still have a plan for
serving persons who are LEP, which may
involve a telephone interpretation service or
include some other accommodation short of
hiring bilingual staff. Signs and telephone
voicemail systems should also be appropriate
for the populations served.
Example: A One-Stop Career Center in a
large city has bilingual staff that can interpret
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the most frequently encountered languages.
When LEP clients request services in less
frequently encountered languages, a
commercial telephone interpretation service
is provided. Ten percent of the city’s
population is LEP, and sixty percent of the
LEP population speaks Spanish. The One-
Stop Career Center has many Spanish-speaking staff and a few staff that speak other
languages. Forms are translated into Spanish.
The recipient provides services to other non-
English-speaking clients using a language
bank, comprised of volunteers and bilingual
staff employed by other Government entities
who are competent translators and/or
interpreters. This example may be one
appropriate way of providing meaningful
access for LEP individuals.
Example: A small One-Stop Career Center
is operated by a recipient of DOL funds and
located in an area where 15 percent of the
population speak Spanish and may be LEP.
Seven percent of the population in the
service area speak various Chinese dialects
and may be LEP. The One-Stop Career Center
uses competent community volunteers to
help translate vital outreach materials into
Chinese (which is one written language
despite many dialects) and Spanish. The
One-Stop Career Center telephone system has
a menu providing key information, such as
location, in English, Spanish, and two of the
most common Chinese dialects. Calls for
immediate assistance are handled by
bilingual staff. The One-Stop Career Center
has one counselor and several volunteers
fluent in Spanish and English. Some
volunteers are fluent in different Chinese
dialects and in English. The One-Stop Career
Center works with community groups to
access interpreters in the several Chinese
dialects that they encounter. One-Stop Career
Center staff train the community volunteers
in the intake process and the specialized
vocabulary needed to explain the services
available. Volunteers sign confidentiality
agreements. The One-Stop Career Center is
looking for a grant to increase its language
capabilities despite its limited resources.
There have been no complaints of delayed or
denied service on account of language
barriers. This example may be one
appropriate way of providing meaningful
access for LEP individuals.
b. Delivering Labor Exchange Services
Currently, labor exchange services are
being delivered through a wide variety of
media, both electronic and paper-based.
However, state and local workforce agencies
are increasingly relying on Internet-based,
self-help models of service delivery. While
this method of service has the potential of
benefiting the greatest number of job seekers
while minimizing staff resources, key
segments of the population are potentially
excluded. Persons with limited language and
literacy skills often have extra difficulty
accessing services through the self-help,
Internet-based systems. As such, a service
plan is needed to develop alternative
delivery systems. This can be done through
incorporating one or more of the following
strategies: (1) Having certain information
translated; (2) incorporating a sufficient level
of staff assistance to serve those persons that
need assistance in accessing services
electronically; or (3) providing direct one-on-one sessions with LEP applicants who are
unable to access electronic information.
Example: A One-Stop Career Center in a
moderately large city includes significant
LEP populations whose native languages are
Spanish, Korean, and Tagalog. One-Stop
Career Center management officials could
reasonably consider creating a resource list of
individuals competent to interpret and ready
to assist front-line staff dealing with LEP
customers. This could be combined with
developing language-appropriate written
materials, such as an explanation of basic
labor exchange activities and other services
available at the One-Stop Career Center for
use by LEP individuals who are literate in
those languages. In other circumstances, it
may be necessary to provide access to a
telephone interpretation service.
Example: Job placement staff at a One-Stop
Career Center assist employers interested in
hiring LEP individuals who have completed
ESL vocational training. In some instances,
employers may have bilingual supervisors
who can assure that safety precautions and
explanations are provided in the individuals’
primary language(s). In other locations,
‘‘ethnic’’ community-based organizations
maintain lists of employers who have
openings and are able to place LEP
individuals without providing ESL or
vocational training with businesses where
the LEP individuals’ primary language(s) is
spoken. This example may be one
appropriate way of providing meaningful
access for LEP individuals.
Example: A large state, with an ethnically
diverse population, operates a website as part
of its overall delivery system which offers
access to labor market information and
provides labor exchange self-service for job
seekers and employers. Because of the scope
and reach of the Internet, the population
eligible to be served by that website may
easily include LEP individuals representing
over 100 different languages. In this instance,
the state translates key documents and forms
on its website into the most significant
languages, e.g., representing five percent or
more of the total eligible population to be
served, and advertises its toll-free help line,
which includes interpretation services, on
the homepage of its website. Through the
combination of its toll-free help line and its
in-office delivery system, the state is able to
provide information and services to LEPs in
languages that are less commonly
encountered. In this instance, the recipient
takes into account, in conducting its four-factor analysis, its entire delivery system, not
just one component. This example may be
one appropriate way of providing meaningful
access for LEP individuals.
c. Delivering Unemployment Insurance (UI)
Services
The federal-state UI program created by the
Social Security Act of 1935, offers the first
line of defense against the ripple effects of
unemployment. Payments made directly to
eligible, unemployed workers ensure that at
least a significant proportion of the
necessities of life, most notably food, shelter
and clothing, can be met on a week-to-week
basis while the claimant searches for work.
UI benefits provide temporary wage
replacement that helps claimants to maintain
their purchasing power and stabilize the
economy.
(1). Initial Claims and Follow-Up Notices
State agencies that serve LEP claimants
should consider the inherent communication
impediments to gathering information from
LEP persons throughout the UI claims
process. During the initial claim process, it
is necessary to collect basic information,
such as the LEP person’s name, address,
employment information, and reason for
separation from employment. It is also
necessary to communicate with claimants
throughout the life of their claims, and
workforce agencies should evaluate their
ability to provide appropriate services at all
stages of the UI claim. Where few bilingual
staff are available or in situations where the
LEP person speaks a language not frequently
encountered in the local area, telephone
interpretation services may provide the most
cost effective and efficient method of
communication during the initial claim.
However, subsequent correspondence and
communication frequently entail written
notices and claim forms. Depending on the
size of the LEP population, it may be
necessary to translate vital forms into other
languages or to include a multilingual tag-line on correspondence not appropriately
translated to inform claimants that free
language services are available.
Example: A state agency operates a
statewide Call Center for UI initial claims
taking that receives 100,000 calls per year.
The majority of the calls are from English
speakers. Fifteen percent of the callers
(15,000) do not speak English: 6,500 callers
speak Spanish; 4,000 speak Vietnamese;
3,500 speak Cambodian; and the rest speak
other languages (500 Russian, 100 French, 80
Tagalog, 20 German, and 300 speak other
languages). The Call Center employs four
Spanish speakers, two Vietnamese speakers
and two Cambodian speakers. A voice
response system directs the calls as
appropriate to the bilingual staff. Calls from
LEP claimants speaking other languages are
directed to a commercial interpretation
(telephone interpretation) service. The Call
Center’s bilingual employees are able to
handle most calls from the three significant
LEP language groups that they serve. Callers
who speak English and any of the three
languages for which translation is provided
generally wait no longer than five minutes to
speak with the staff. The system is monitored
for wait times and performance. Follow-up
correspondence such as letters, notices, and
forms contain a tag-line in the languages of
the three significant LEP groups and three
other commonly encountered languages. The
tag-line advises individuals of the
importance of the information and provides
a phone number to call for assistance. This
example may be one appropriate way of
providing meaningful access for LEP
individuals.
(2). UI Benefits Rights Information (BRI)
State agencies provide UI benefits rights
information to all claimants. The information
is necessary to ensure that claimants
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understand their rights and responsibilities
under the state UI law.
Example: A state agency takes its UI claims
in-person. It prints a Benefits Rights
Information (BRI) pamphlet in English and in
three other languages to serve the three
significant LEP population groups in the
state. After the initial claim is taken, the state
agency provides the BRI in a group setting for
all claimants. LEP individuals who speak the
three significant languages attend separate
groups in which the information is conveyed
in the appropriate languages. Claimants who
speak languages that are less prevalent
receive the information through a telephone
translation service. The state agency has also
produced a video of the BRI in the three
primary LEP groups’ languages. The BRI
video is available for viewing at the local
library or at the local office. Claimants are
advised that the BRI is important and that it
is necessary that they hear and understand
the BRI before filing claims for benefits. This
example may be one appropriate way of
providing meaningful access for LEP
individuals.
(3). UI Determinations/Adjudications/
Appeals
The purpose of the UI program is to
provide temporary financial assistance to
individuals who have lost their employment,
who are able and available for work, and who
meet other eligibility requirements of state
law. As appropriate, claims adjudicators
apply the legal test of the various
requirements of the state law to the factual
circumstances involved in each specific
claim to issue a determination of eligibility.
All state laws contain provisions permitting
claimants to appeal determinations within a
specified period of time. Because of the
importance of accurate and timely
information from UI claimants for eligibility
determinations, formulating a successful
policy for effectively communicating with
LEP individuals is necessary.
Example: A workforce agency institutes a
LEP plan that provides qualified interpreters,
as necessary, for fact-finding at the initial
determination stage and/or at an appeals
hearing. Some of the interpretation is done
using bilingual state agency staff, and some
interpretation is handled by a number of
individuals that are placed on a ‘‘list of
interpreters’’ developed to assist when state
staff is unavailable or when staff do not speak
the particular language needed. The agency
also has a contract with a telephone
translation service, which is used as needed.
The written determinations and decisions are
printed in English and Spanish and ‘‘tag-lines’’ (an annotation) are included in four
additional languages advising claimants of
their appeal rights. Claimants are advised at
the time of the initial claim that it is very
important to read and understand
correspondence they receive about UI, and
they are encouraged to seek assistance by
contacting the agency as necessary. The
agency is able to handle telephonic inquiries
languages other than English. These actions
would constitute evidence of reasonable
steps to ensure meaningful access to the UI
benefits. This example may be one
appropriate way of providing meaningful
access for LEP individuals.
(4). UI Linkages to Reemployment Services
Facilitating reemployment of the UI
claimant is a key objective of the UI system.
Claimants therefore need to be aware of the
types of services available and need to know
how and where to access such services.
Example: A state agency profiles UI
claimants to identify those most in need of
reemployment services. Written notices to
report for reemployment services are sent to
those claimants who have been identified as
needing these services and whom the agency
has the capacity to serve. Claimants are given
specific instructions to report to the agency
or contact the agency through other means
such as by telephone. Claimants must
understand both the requirement that they
contact the agency and their rights under
state law because a failure to follow these
instructions could result in the denial of UI
benefits. A tag-line is included on all notices
in the three primary languages advising the
claimant of the importance of these services
and of the fact that language assistance will
be available free of charge. Translation and
interpretation for LEP claimants is provided
through telephone interpretation services,
some bilingual staff, and community-based
organizations as needed. One-Stop Career
Centers that may subsequently refer
claimants to other service providers ensure
that the service providers are aware of the
language needs of the LEP claimants. This
example may be one appropriate way of
providing meaningful access for LEP
individuals.
d. Community Outreach
Community outreach activities are
increasingly recognized as important to the
ultimate success of a program that aims to
serve the larger community. Thus,
application of the four-factor analysis to
community outreach activities can play an
important role in ensuring that the purpose
of these activities—to improve awareness of
and participation in a program—is not
thwarted due to lack of planned, reasonable
steps to address the language needs of LEP
persons.
Example: A state Employment Security
Department (ESD) UI Division has
implemented a many-faceted outreach
program to inform Spanish-speaking LEP
customers how to access UI benefits. Eight
radio stations that reach the highest numbers
of Hispanics are used to make public service
announcements about ESD services. Inserts
are placed in major Hispanic newspapers and
magazines, and flyers on ESD services are
distributed through community centers,
faith-based organizations, and Hispanic
businesses. Articles are printed in
newspapers and magazines in Spanish and
English on how to file UI claims by phone
through the UI Telecenters. This example
may be one appropriate way of providing
meaningful access for LEP individuals.
Example: The Local Workforce Investment
Board mobilizes faith and community-based
organizations to spread the word about the
upcoming public comment session on its
five-year workforce investment plan in the
six major languages spoken by LEP
individuals in the area. Information about the
upcoming meeting is delivered throughout
the community in written notices (in each
target language) as well as through public
service announcements on radio and tv in
these six target languages. This example may
be one appropriate way of providing
meaningful access for LEP individuals.
e. ESL Classes
English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes
are often useful and appropriate for LEP
populations. ESL courses can serve as an
important part of a proper LEP plan.
However, the fact that ESL classes are
provided does not necessarily obviate the
need to provide meaningful access for LEP
persons in other programs and services that
the One-Stop Career Center provides.
f. Intake, Orientation and Assessment
Intake, orientation and assessment play a
critical role not merely in the system’s
identification of LEP persons, but also in
providing those persons with fundamental
information about how to utilize the system
and participate in education and training
opportunities available. All individuals
should be given the opportunity to be
informed of the program’s rules, obligations,
and opportunities in a manner designed
effectively to communicate these matters. An
appropriate analogy is the obligation to
communicate effectively with deaf persons,
which is most frequently accomplished
through sign language interpreters or written
materials. Not every One-Stop Career Center
will use the same method for providing
language assistance. One-Stop Career Centers
with large numbers of Spanish-speaking LEP
persons may choose to translate written
materials, notices, and other important
orientation material into Spanish with oral
instructions, whereas One-Stop Career
Centers with very few such persons may
choose to rely upon a telephonic
interpretation service or qualified community
volunteers to assist. Each person’s LEP status
and the language spoken should be recorded
in the person’s file. Although the LEP
Guidance and Title VI are not meant to
address literacy levels, recipients should be
aware of literacy problems so that the
appropriate language services are provided.
Example: A One-Stop Career Center is
located in an area that has a five percent
Haitian Creole-speaking LEP population and
an eight percent Spanish-speaking LEP
population. The One-Stop Career Center has
developed intake videos in Haitian Creole
and Spanish for staff to use when conducting
orientation for new LEP persons who speak
these languages. In addition, the One-Stop
Career Center provides LEP persons with the
opportunity to ask questions and discuss
orientation information with bilingual staff
who are competent in interpreting and who
are either present at the orientation or
patched in by phone to act as interpreters.
The One-Stop Career Center has also made
arrangements for LEP persons who do not
speak Haitian Creole or Spanish. For such
situations, the One-Stop Career Center has
created a list of sources for interpretation,
including staff, contract interpreters,
university resources, volunteers, and a
telephone interpretation service. Each person
receives at least an oral explanation of the
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services available in the One-Stop Career
Center. This example may be one appropriate
way of providing meaningful access for LEP
individuals.
g. Providing More Intensive Employment and
Training Services
An effective LEP plan should envision how
a LEP person will move from receipt of core
services to intensive services and then to
training services. An effective LEP plan will
envision accommodations along each step of
the service continuum. For example,
customized programs that combine
Vocational ESL and skills-based vocational
training may be appropriate depending upon
the size of the LEP population and the need
of individual LEP persons. If there are a
significant number of LEP persons speaking
a particular language in a local area, the One-
Stop Career System should consider outreach
to training providers that could provide
classes in appropriate languages in One-Stop
Career Centers and at employer sites. If there
are far fewer LEP persons speaking a
particular language, the recipient might
consider the use of bilingual teachers,
contract interpreters, community volunteers
to interpret during the class, reliance on
videos or written explanations in appropriate
languages.
Example: A rural One-Stop Career Center
has made a number of accommodations to
serve LEP job-seekers. Services are provided
both directly to the applicants and through
a partner organization that has the capability
to mobilize comprehensive services to assist
LEP clients. The partner organization runs a
special service center, which is considered
part of the One-Stop Career System and is
located near its main offices. The special
center offers core employment services such
as job placement, job-seeking/job-retention
skills, and individual counseling to LEP
clients as well as providing access to many
other services, such as housing,
transportation, childcare, legal services,
counseling, interpretive services, and
assistance with completing immigration and
naturalization forms. Emergency referrals for
healthcare, housing/shelter, and food are also
made. The local One-Stop Career Center also
routinely provides specialized resources to
serve LEP dislocated workers, including
bilingual assistance for UI and other financial
aid, assessment of English language skills,
and ESL career planning. The program
utilizes the ESL capabilities available at the
local community college and hires translators
to assist the workers in developing
individual plans, providing guidance, and in
taking skill-building courses in new demand
occupations. Customized ESL classes have
been developed on specific work-related
issues (for example, higher level ESL courses
on job seeking and communicating in the
workplace are offered). Students are also
referred to both community-based ESL and
an intensive for-credit immersion ESL course
that runs five days a week, six hours a day,
offered through the local community college.
The local program has also developed a
strong partnership with the State Bureau of
Refugee Services to coordinate the provision
of additional social services for LEP
dislocated workers. This example may be one
appropriate way of providing meaningful
access for LEP individuals.
Example: A community college, which
serves as a One-Stop Career Center,
customizes its workforce services for LEP
individuals. In particular, its dislocated
worker program (of which eighteen percent
of participants is LEP) has made
accommodations in fourteen services that are
now individualized to meet the specific
needs of LEP participants. The services
include: outreach and recruitment, rapid
response, orientation, assessment, case
management, self-sufficiency plan
development, support services, vocational
training, job search assistance, job
development and placement, retention
services, interagency coordination, basic
skills training, and employer services.
Changes in services have been developed
through close collaboration between the
workforce investment staff and the
traditional ESL teachers at the community
college. While ESL, adult basic education
and GED courses are available to all
participants; the LEP dislocated workers
receive customized employment-related ESL
training. The dislocated worker program also
provides peer support training and
counseling. This unique approach involves
training peers—dislocated workers
themselves—who are proficient in both the
LEP participant’s primary language and
English to serve as translators, information
providers, and counselors to the other
dislocated workers. Another unique
component of the services to LEP dislocated
workers is the targeted industry model,
which includes pre-training job shadowing
and industry-related classroom activities.
The program also provides training to
employers on cultural differences and on
creating multicultural work teams. Finally,
the program has developed close
relationships with community-based
organizations serving immigrant populations
to provide other services to LEP individuals.
The community-based organizations provide
additional employment services as well as
information on a variety of youth and family
services, which may be useful to dislocated
worker participants. This example may be
one appropriate way of providing meaningful
access for LEP individuals.
h. Youth Programs
DOL provides funds to many youth
programs to which the LEP Guidance applies.
Recipients should also consider LEP parents
when designing programs targeted to youth.
Example: A local workforce program
serving former gang members has
significantly altered its services to
accommodate a large number of immigrant
youth who have limited English proficiency
and are transitioning from the juvenile justice
system. In order to make all program
elements accessible to these youth, program
staff is fluent in multiple languages including
Vietnamese, Cambodian, Spanish, and
Laotian. Upon entry into the program, each
youth is assessed using a specially designed
risk assessment tool to gauge such factors as
educational and employment skill levels,
need for home-based support (which can
include culturally appropriate interventions),
counseling, and identification of personal
assets and interests. Each youth receives an
individualized service strategy after
assessment. This example may be one
appropriate way of providing meaningful
access for LEP individuals.
[FR Doc. 03–13125 Filed 5–28–03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510–23–P