Thread: Bilingual Compensation Growing

nbc5i.com
Compensating Bilingual Government Workers Gaining Popularity

POSTED: 2:25 pm CST February 11, 2007

DALLAS -- As the only Spanish-speaking staffer in his division, Dallas city employee Norman Herrera takes at least one call a day from a resident en español.

The questions range from where to pay a parking ticket to how to get trash pick up on a day other than Thursday.

"We get those calls in English all the time. When you get those in Spanish, you want to answer them," said Herrera, a special assistant to the Dallas mayor. "If we can't communicate with them ... I don't think we're doing our job."

Demand for bilingual employees like Herrera is growing across the U.S., at schools, hospitals, courthouses and other government offices, said Kevin Hendzel, spokesman for the American Translators Association. Many are recruiting and rewarding bilingual workers with extra pay.

The city of Austin, for example, will soon begin paying some employees an extra $150 a month if they speak Spanish or are fluent in sign language. Employees must work in a department where the languages are in demand and prove their abilities through testing.

"The point of the city government is to provide service to taxpayers, even if they speak another language," Ralph Goring, organizational development manager for Austin. "It just makes all the difference in the world when it comes to customer service."

Federal rules require cities with large non-English speaking populations to offer language assistance. An executive order in 2000 began requiring agencies that get federal money to make sure programs and services are being provided to anyone with limited English skills.

Since then, legislation favoring bilingualism has been gaining momentum. For example, New York has passed a law requiring hospital systems to have interpreters and California is limiting use of children as translators for their parents, Hendzel said.

"It's basically a civil rights issue," he said. "It's been a long time in development."

In Los Angeles police and firefighters receive bilingual premiums; Oakland requires some city workers dealing directly with the public to be bilingual and Phoenix covers the cost of employees' language classes.

The extra pay a bilingual worker receives can vary, and is often linked to the specific language skills needed for the job.

In Dallas, bilingual employees receive stipends of $110 or $150 a month, depending their level of proficiency. San Antonio pays employees an additional $50 monthly if using a second language helps them perform their duties. The police department in Montgomery County, Maryland, offers its bilingual officers an extra $1,000 to $4,000 each year. And some state employees in Washington can earn an extra five percent of their base salary for their language skills.

"What happened is more of an evolution. It was our employees saying, 'Wait a minute, this is valuable skill. We are doing skills we weren't hired to perform,"' said Tim Welch, a spokesman for the Washington Federation of State Employees, a union which covers 38,000 workers.

About 4 percent of the U.S. population speaks little or no English, according to Census figures. And many may need help in their first language when doing anything from asking about their water bill to calling 911 for assistance.

While Spanish is the language most in demand, Chinese, Arabic and Russian speakers also are needed. From Washington state to Texas, agencies also rely on employees fluent in Korean, Kurdish, Vietnamese, and other languages, experts said.

It's not uncommon for a person who doesn't speak English to encounter a clerk in a government office trying to get a point across by talking so loud that everyone in the room hears the exchange.

Or imagine getting a parking citation, not being fluent in English and trying to contest the ticket or otherwise navigate the court system.

"In a very stressful situation, if you can't speak the language, it can be extremely frightening to answer questions," said Margaret Wright-Rogers, Dallas' assistant director of personnel.

Although language assistance is required for some agencies, the federal mandate is unfunded.

"Where the real struggle comes in is who pays for it. The patient, the state, the municipality?" said Hendzel, the spokesman for the translators group.

In the case of Austin, officials set aside $1 million this year to cover pay and testing for 600 city employees who likely will be eligible for bilingual bonuses. Dallas spends even more on stipends for nearly 1,000 of the city's 12,500 employees.

"It's been beneficial to be able to offer," Wright-Rogers said of the incentive program, which began in 1987. "It's been extremely positive for our city. We need to meet the needs of our community...while they're becoming more proficient in English."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Grrrrrrrrr. English ONLY please. We're headed in the wrong direction folks.

That article made me queasy. WHY is it all-of-a-sudden so okay for people to not speak English in the U.S.? Geez....what's this country going to be like when 10 people, all in the same room, speak 10 different languages, and nobody understands each other?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought this was the "UNITED States".

Oh, but to the Dems that is "UNITED". We are UNITED in our DIVERSITY. Who cares if we can't talk to each other!!! At least that's what the Dems, the UN, LULAC, etc. are pushing

I am sorry, I guess I am a racist, is this is what diversity is, then I feel it will be the ruin of our country. Why should tax payers money be spent on hiring people who speak Spanish so we can do business in Spanish instead of requiring people to learn English in order to become citizens of our country, oh yea, I forgot, these people are not citizens of our country, how could I have forgotten that?

I listened to a speech from TX 10th Circuit Judge Felipe Reyna. He said his father crossed the border illegally in the late 1930's at the age of 16. He became a citizen and wanted his kids to be Americans. Once, Felipe got paddled at school and has his mouth washed out for speaking Spanish in class. When he got home, instead of sympathy from his father, who was still learning English, his daddy asked him if he ever expected to be a success in the US if he did not speak English. His daddy busted his butt for speaking Spanish in school.

The fact that we continue to bend over backwards who REFUSE to make an effort to assimilate is shameful and will shoot us in the foot. Spanish is not the only language we are having to find translators for. This is WAY too expensive to keep doing. And who does it cost? I can tell you, many of the immigrants needing these resources aren't paying. It is you and I. I guess it goes along with the ER abuse and bilingual ed. Sucks to be us, I guess.

We are a bunch of enablers.

Originally Posted by nittygritty

I am sorry, I guess I am a racist, is this is what diversity is, then I feel it will be the ruin of our country. Why should tax payers money be spent on hiring people who speak Spanish so we can do business in Spanish instead of requiring people to learn English in order to become citizens of our country, oh yea, I forgot, these people are not citizens of our country, how could I have forgotten that?

Well Nitty, I'm with you, guess there are two racist now on here because I am fed up with illegal diversity or anybody else who refuses to speak the language of our country, and I also do not want my HUSBANDS hard earned money spent on it. I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO WITH IT!!!