Executive Order 1366
Below is the text from
Executive Order 1366: Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited
English Proficiency.
October 5, 2005
Ms. Merrily Friedlander
Chief, Coordination and Review Section
Civil Rights Division
Department of Justice
P.O. Box 66560
Washington , D.C. 20035-6560
Re: Executive Order 13166: "Improving Access to Services for
Persons with Limited English Proficiency"
Pursuant to Assistant Attorney General Boyd's memorandum of
November 12, 2002, I am providing you with an update of the Agency's Limited
English Proficiency (LEP) implementation plan. You will note that this update
builds upon the original report submitted to you by former Acting General
Counsel Page on January 17, 2001 and the update provided on January 10, 2003
under my signature. Please note that the new material is noted on page 2 and
relates to our publication of certain documents in Chinese (Mandarin).
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent
Federal agency created to enforce the National Labor Relations Act. We conduct
secret-ballot elections to determine whether employees want union representation
and we investigate and remedy unfair labor practices by employers and
unions.
In developing this plan, the Agency conducted an inventory of
current services and surveyed our regional offices to determine projected need
based on the four factors identified in the Executive Order;
- number or proportion of LEP individuals;
- frequency of contact with the program;
- nature and importance of the program; and
- resources available.
Based on the responses, the Agency's services and needs appear
to center around three major areas: publications, personnel, and forms.
Currently the NLRB provides Agency publications in both print
(available for sale through the Government Printing Office) and electronic
format (via the Agency's Web site). In addition to English the Agency also
provides five publications in Spanish in print format ( The Text of the
National Labor Relations Act; A Guide to Basic Law and Procedures under the
National Labor Relations Act; Your Government Conducts an Election; The NLRB and
You (Representation); and The NLRB and You (Unfair Labor Practices ). The
same publications are available in Spanish via our Web site, with the exception
of The Text of the National Labor Relations Act . During FYs 2001 and
2003, the Agency made available, in electronic format, A Guide to Basic Law
and Procedures under the National Labor Relations Act and The Text of the
National Labor Relations Act, respectively, both in Chinese
(Mandarin).
During FY 2005, we have made available, via the Agency's
website, our publication, Your Government Conducts an Election in Chinese
(Mandarin). As funds permit, we will proceed with our plan to provide two
publications each fiscal year thereafter until all our publications are
available in the three languages most needed by our clients served (Chinese
Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese).
Personnel/Hiring - Regional Office Efforts
The Agency's field offices report virtually no difficulties in
providing effective service to persons with limited English proficiency. The
Agency has taken several steps to meet the needs of non-English speaking
individuals in its field operations. Over 100 of the approximately 1000
nonsupervisory field professional and support staff employees are completely
bilingual. Many more are functionally proficient in a second language. Regional
offices in areas with large Hispanic populations provide a Spanish language
version of their automated telephone message, providing a description of the
Agency and its functions.
The Agency makes particular effort to recruit qualified
bilingual personnel in areas with high non-English speaking populations and has
been very successful in these efforts. In addition, the Agency has established a
protocol in which offices with greater complements of bilingual staff are
assigned to provide casehandling and translation assistance to offices without
bilingual employees. Non-English speaking individuals appearing at the Regional
Offices are referred to a bilingual employee for inquiry or, if a bilingual
employee is not available on site, the Region obtains telephonic assistance from
another Regional Office. Several Regional Offices have established contacts with
local foreign consulates, universities, and local Hispanic, Asian, and Eastern
European community groups to obtain further translation assistance. The Agency
also participates with other labor and employment related federal agencies in
Worker Exploitation Task Forces organized by the Department of Justice for the
purpose of, inter alia, reaching out to and addressing the special needs of
workers, including workers with limited English proficiency. All field managers
participate in numerous outreach activities, including meetings with local
community groups.
In order to ensure that non-English speaking witnesses can
provide testimony during Agency trials and investigations, the Agency's field
offices regularly contract with local interpreter/translation services. The
Agency also has incorporated techniques for effectively and sensitively handling
challenges involved in dealing with non-English speaking witnesses into its
trial training materials. In addition, the Agency has alerted the Division of
Administrative Law Judges to the language and other cultural issues that arise
when non-English speaking individuals participate in unfair labor practice
hearings.
In addition to English, the Agency currently provides 41
casehandling forms in Spanish. These forms are used in conducting elections and
investigating charges of unfair labor practices. In addition, the NLRB also
provides election notices in the following languages:
Arabic
Bengali
Bosnian
Cambodian
Chinese
Creole
Czech
Ethiopian
French
German
Greek
Haitian Creole
Hindi
Hmong
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Laotian
Portugese
Punjab
Rumanian
Russian
Samoan
Tagalog
Thai
Tonga
As reported in our initial plan submitted January 17, 2001,
it is our intent to pursue future activities such as expanded translation
services for persons with limited English proficiency. However, at this time, it
is uncertain what our funding will be for FY 2006 so we are unable to determine
what, if any, additional initiatives we will be able to undertake.
(signed)
Gloria Joseph
Director of Administration
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