Decision means agency must send notices in language person speaks

By Associated Press
July 3, 2006

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A court's ruling in favor of a legal immigrant who sued the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development because the notice denying him unemployment wasn't in a language he understood could affect other state agencies, advocates say.

The letter Javier Mendoza received was in English, a language he had indicated to the state he didn't speak well.

"I can only understand a word here and there," Mendoza said through a translator in a recent interview with The Daily News Journal.

By the time Mendoza found someone to translate the letter, the deadline to appeal the notice had expired, and the state concluded he didn't have good grounds to file a late appeal.

However, a legal advocacy group took up his case, and the Rutherford County Chancery Court ruled in March that the Department of Labor and Workforce Development must communicate with non-English-speaking workers in a language they understand.

"The department is not obligated to send all notices in all languages," ruled Chancellor Robert E. Corlew III, who also granted Mendoza his unemployment benefits. "However, when the department knows a claimant is limited English proficient, the department is obligated to provide notice that is reasonably calculated to convey to the claimant the decision and deadlines for his appeal."

Because Mendoza couldn't understand the state's decision, the 15-day deadline from receipt of the letter could not be imposed on him, Corlew said.

Barbara Futter, managing attorney for Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Mendoza, said Corlew's decision is going to affect all state agencies receiving federal funds.

Other advocates agreed Mendoza's victory was important.

"It establishes the principle that workers have the right to reasonable notice of their unemployment benefits, and that is true even for some workers who don't speak English," said Douglas Stevick, managing attorney for Southern Migrant Legal Services.

Because of growth in immigrant and refugee populations, Stevick said Tennessee has had difficulties catching up in providing services that are accessible to residents less than proficient in English.

Besides the Hispanic population, which has grown in Tennessee by 35 percent from 2000 to 2004, the Kurdish, Sudanese and Somali populations have grown in large numbers, advocates say.

Sharmila Murthy, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Nashville, said state departments need to make an effort to reach out to community centers, churches and other organizations to create better lines of communication and to educate immigrants on how they can effectively be served by the state.

Since the court ruling, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development has made "strong efforts" to assist those with limited English skills by providing people as interpreters and using a telephone translating service and providing several forms in Spanish, said department spokeswoman Milissa Reierson.

Agency staff members across the state also were provided training on how to assist clients with limited English proficiency over the past year, she said.

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