Thread: What Language? Court ruling favors legal immigrant

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.

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/artic ... 30,00.html

More then a few judges need to given pink slips along with our elected officials. Going to have search around and find the judge for this case and convey my distain for the ruling in this case.

"by the time he found someone to translate"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a crock! There is no way you can tell me he had that much trouble finding someone to translate the form! If he is LEGAL why in the hell does he not know english? It takes a long time to become a citizen so after all those years he STILL can't speak or read english?

One big question remains, is Mendoza a United States citizen? If so, he should be proficient enough in English to read his mail. If not, why didn't the responsibility of having the contents of the letter investigated rest with Mr. Mendoza? The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development shouldn't be responsible for ensuring an applicant can read his mail. What if Mr. Mendoza's only problem was lack of education and he couldn't read or write? Would that too be a problem of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development? What if the applicant is blind, are they responsible for sending the letter in brail? Doesn't Mr. Mendoza have family or friends that can read English? This is getting ridiculous! This is America, if the individual can't read English, than it should be his responsibility to get the letter translated.

One big question remains, is Mendoza a United States citizen? If so, he should be proficient enough in English to read his mail. If not, why didn't the responsibility of having the contents of the letter investigated rest with Mr. Mendoza? The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development shouldn't be responsible for ensuring an applicant can read his mail. What if Mr. Mendoza's only problem was lack of education and he couldn't read or write? Would that too be a problem of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development? What if the applicant is blind, are they responsible for sending the letter in brail? Doesn't Mr. Mendoza have family or friends that can read English? This is getting ridiculous! This is America, if the individual can't read English, than it should be his responsibility to get the letter translated.

Furthermore, the police will tell you that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Well, I would suggest the same thing applies here - just plain ignorance is no excuse.

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.

Where's our ENGLISH advocacy group? This is getting pretty darned annoying. Maybe some scientist ought to get going on a "universal translator" since there seems to be no support for a common language in order to communicate.

Did he not file for unemployment in English to begin with?

That is a good question ldydrake.

Crazybird wrote, "Where's our ENGLISH advocay group?"

ProEnglish, the English Language Advocates

http://www.proenglish.org/

has filed lawsuits in the past to try to defeat attempts to require that
foreign languages be used in both private and government situtations.

Here's another question:

Are these lawsuits not being filed in ... English?


(edit) Do our courts not proceed in ... English?

I ask these questions because I'm pretty sure everything filed (unemployment and the lawsuits) are in English. If I were a lawyer, I would argue that this proves the man does indeed understand English (written and verbal) and therefore I would ask the court to find the allegations unfounded and require the man pay all court costs.