Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
as amended
“No person in the United States
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.”
Who must comply?
If
the individual, program, state or local agency, private institution or
organization which provides the services receives Federal financial assistance,
it must comply. Federal financial
assistance includes: grants/loans
of Federal funds or property; loan of Federal personnel; Federal training; use
or rent of Federal land at below market value; or other subsidies with the
intention of providing assistance.
Examples
of Federal financial assistance: medical
or mental health service providers who accept payment from Medicare, Medicaid,
TennCare; educational institutions where veterans pay for their tuition with
payments made to them by the Federal government for their educational pursuits;
agencies which receive funds through a subgrant or subcontract, either directly
or indirectly.
If there are complaints of an agency’s failure to comply, there can be
an investigations, hearings, ongoing monitoring, judicial review, and possible
termination of funding.
Discrimination?
Discrimination against people on the basis of national origin includes: delaying or denying services because the service provider cannot communicate with them; giving different services to people who do not speak English, segregating or separately treating individuals in any matter related to their service, aid or benefit. To ensure equal access to benefits for persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), the service provider and the LEP persons must communicate effectively.
Agencies must provide interpreters who are appropriately trained and who can accurately translate, either in person or by telephone. Agencies must offer a translated explanation of the person’s rights and any forms which must be signed by applicants for services. Agencies must not require persons seeking services to provide their own interpreters.
How do we comply?
The U. S. Office of Civil Rights suggests that developing policies and
procedures for addressing language assistance needs of LEP persons.
Assess where in the agency the language assistance is likely to be
needed, the languages which are most likely to be encountered, the resources
needed to fulfill this responsibility, and the location/availability of such
resources.
·
Identify
non-English languages likely to be encountered (estimate number of total persons
with Limited English Proficiency [LEP] who are eligible for services)
·
Identify
language needs of LEP clients/patients and note in client file
·
Identify
points of contact where language assistance is likely to be needed
·
Identify
resources needed to provide effective language assistance
·
Identify
the location and availability of these resources
·
Identifying
the arrangements which must be made to access the resources in a timely fashion
·
Develop
policies and procedures for identifying and assessing language needs of LEP
applicants/clients
·
Provide
for a range of oral language assistance options; written materials in certain
circumstances
·
Provide
notice to LEP persons in a language they can understand about the right to free
language assistance
·
Periodic
training of staff
·
Ongoing
monitoring of the implementation of the policy
·
Hire
employees who are bilingual
·
Hire
staff interpreters
·
Contract
with outside interpreter service (Tennessee Foreign Language Institute, yellow
pages, Translation Services)
·
Arrange
for voluntary community interpreters
·
Arrange
for use of telephone language interpreter services (a well known commercial
service is the Language Line which can translate by telephone in more than 140
languages), as well as written translations