Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Who is a Limited English Proficient (LEP) individual?
A. Individuals who do not speak English as their primary
language and who have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or
understand English can be limited English proficient, or "LEP."
These individuals may be entitled language assistance with
respect to a particular type or service, benefit, or encounter.
Q. What are the relevant laws concerning language access for LEP
individuals?
A. Federal laws particularly applicable to language access
include Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Title
VI regulations, prohibiting discrimination based on national
origin, and Executive Order 13166 issued in 2000. Many
individual federal programs, states, and localities also have
provisions requiring language services for LEP individuals.
Q. What is Executive Order 13166?
A. An Executive Order is an order given by the President to
federal agencies. The LEP Executive Order (Executive
Order 13166) says that people who are LEP should have meaningful access
to federally conducted and federally funded programs and
activities.
On August 11, 2000, the President signed Executive Order 13166, "Improving Access
to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency." The
Executive Order requires Federal agencies to examine the
services they provide, identify any need for services to
those with limited English proficiency (LEP), and develop
and implement a system to provide those services so LEP persons
can have meaningful access to them. It is expected
that agency plans will provide for such meaningful access
consistent with, and without unduly burdening, the fundamental
mission of the agency. The Executive Order also requires
that the Federal agencies work to ensure that recipients
of Federal financial assistance provide meaningful access
to their LEP applicants and beneficiaries.
To assist Federal agencies in carrying out these responsibilities, the U.S. Department
of Justice has issued a Policy Guidance Document, "Enforcement
of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - National Origin
Discrimination Against Persons With Limited English Proficiency" (LEP
Guidance). This LEP Guidance sets forth the compliance
standards that recipients of Federal financial assistance
must follow to ensure that their programs and activities
normally provided in English are accessible to LEP persons
and thus do not discriminate on the basis of national origin
in violation of Title VI's prohibition against national origin
discrimination.
The Coordination and Review Section is responsible for
governmentwide coordination with respect
to Executive Order 13166. The Section serves as the
federal repository for the internal implementation plans
that each federal agency is required to develop, to ensure
meaningful access to its own federally conducted programs
and activities, and it also reviews and approves each funding
agency’s external LEP guidance for its recipients.
As the Department of Justice prepared its own plan, the Section
reviewed and approved each component’s submission. Further,
the Section developed the Department’s external
guidance for its own recipients.
The Section has initiated an aggressive
program of intra- and inter-agency consultations and actively
solicits comments and suggestions from representatives of
recipient and LEP individuals on how to identify and address
the needs of LEP individuals under Executive Order 13166
in an effective and cost-effective manner.
Q. What is a recipient of federal financial assistance?
A. Federal financial assistance includes grants, training, use
of equipment, donations of surplus property, and other
assistance. Subrecipients are also covered, when federal funds
are passed from one recipient to a subrecipient. Recipients of
federal funds range from state and local agencies, to nonprofits
and other organizations. A list of the types of recipients and
the agencies funding them can be found at
Executive Order 12250
Coordination of Grant-Related Civil Rights Statutes.
Title VI covers a recipient's entire program or activity. This
means all parts of a recipient's operations are covered. This is
true even if only one part of the recipient receives the federal
assistance.
Example: DOJ provides assistance to a state department of
corrections to improve a particular prison facility. All of the
operations of the entire state department of corrections--not
just the particular prison--are covered.
More information on Title VI, generally, can be found at
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
42 U.S.C. ยง 2000d et seq.
.
Q. What is a federally conducted activity?
A. All federal agencies subject to Executive Order 13166 must
design and implement a federally conducted plan to ensure access
for LEP individuals to all of its federally conducted programs
and activities (basically, everything that it does). For
instance, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of
Justice has a plan for ensuring meaningful access to its programs
and activities for LEP persons. Other agencies and parts of
agencies must do the same.
Q. Who will enforce the LEP rules?
A. Most federal agencies have an office that is responsible for
enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. To the extent that a
recipient's actions are inconsistent with their obligations under
Title VI, then such agencies will take the necessary corrective
steps.
The Coordination and Review Section of the Civil Rights Division
of DOJ has taken the lead in coordinating
and implementing this Executive Order.
Q. What are recipients of federal funds and federal agencies
required to do to meet LEP requirements?
A. Recipients and federal agencies are required to take
reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs
and activities by LEP persons. While designed to be a flexible
and fact-dependent standard, the starting point is an
individualized assessment that balances the following four
factors:
- The number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served
or likely to be encountered by the program or grantee;
- the frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with
the program;
- the nature and importance of the program, activity, or
service provided by the program to people's lives; and
- the resources available to the grantee/recipient or agency,
and costs. As indicated above, the intent of this guidance is to
find a balance that ensures meaningful access by LEP persons to
critical services while not imposing undue burdens on small
business, or small nonprofits.
Q. Do recipients of federal funds have to submit written language access plans
to the Department of Justice or to their federal funding agency each year?
A. No. While planning is an important part of ensuring that reasonable steps are taken
to provide meaningful access to LEP individuals seeking services, benefits, information,
or assertion of rights, there is no blanket requirement that the plans themselves
be submitted to federal agencies providing federal financial assistance.
In certain circumstances, such as in complaint investigations or compliance reviews,
recipients may be required to provide to federal agencies a copy of any plan created
by the recipient.
Q. When developing plans and guidance regarding translation of documents, how do we determine which documents must be translated?
A. It is important to ensure that written materials routinely provided in English also are provided in regularly encountered languages other than English. It is particularly important to ensure that vital documents are translated into the non-English language of each regularly encountered LEP group eligible to be served or likely to be affected by the program or activity. A document will be considered vital if it contains information that is critical for obtaining federal services and/or benefits, or is required by law. Vital documents include, for example: applications, consent and complaint forms; notices of rights and disciplinary action; notices advising LEP persons of the availability of free language assistance; prison rulebooks; written tests that do not assess English language competency, but rather competency for a particular license, job, or skill for which English competency is not required; and letters or notices that require a response from the beneficiary or client. For instance, if a complaint form is necessary in order to file a claim with an agency, that complaint form would be vital. Non-vital information includes documents that are not critical to access such benefits and services. Advertisements of federal agency tours and copies of testimony presented to Congress that are available for information purposes would be considered non-vital information.
Vital documents must be translated when a significant number or percentage of the population eligible to be served, or likely to be directly affected by the program/activity, needs services or information in a language other than English to communicate effectively. For many larger documents, translation of vital information contained within the document will suffice and the documents need not be translated in their entirety.
It may sometimes be difficult to draw a distinction between vital and non-vital documents, particularly when considering outreach or other documents designed to raise awareness of rights or services. Though meaningful access to a program requires an awareness of the program's existence, we recognize that it would be impossible, from a practical and cost-based perspective, to translate every piece of outreach material into every language. Title VI does not require this of recipients of federal financial assistance, and EO 13166 does not require it of federal agencies. Nevertheless, because in some circumstances lack of awareness of the existence of a particular program may effectively deny LEP individuals meaningful access, it is important for federal agencies to continually survey/assess the needs of eligible service populations in order to determine whether certain critical outreach materials should be translated into other languages.
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