October 17, 2007 DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT LANGUAGE ACCESS (LA) PLAN

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1 LINDA LINGLE GOVERNOR OF HAWAII MARIE C. LADERTA DIRECTOR CINDY S. INOUYE DEPUTY DIRECTOR STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT 235 S. BERETANIA STREET HONOLULU, HAWAII October 17, 2007 INTRODUCTION DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT LANGUAGE ACCESS (LA) PLAN The purpose of Act 290, Session Laws of Hawai'i 2006, (Chapter Part II, Hawai'i Revised Statutes), "Relating to Language Access", "is to affirmatively address, on account of national origin, the language access needs of limited English proficient persons." "... it is the intent of the legislature that those services be guided by Executive Order and succeeding provisions of federal law, regulation, or guidance." The purpose of this Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Plan is to take reasonable steps to ensure persons with limited English proficiency gain meaningful access to the Department of Human Resources Development's (DHRD) services and programs. This LEP Plan speaks to DHRD's commitment to provide essential and meaningful access to LEP customers. DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW The Department of Human Resources Development is headed by the Director. The department is the central personnel department for the Executive Branch of government. The department is comprised of four divisions and two staff offices. The four divisions are: Employee Relations Division o Labor Relations o Employee Assistance o Training o Personnel Transactions Employee Classification and Compensation Division o Classification o Compensation o Exempt Positions and Employees o Excluded Positions and Employees

2 Department of Human Resources Development Language Access Plan Page 2 Employee Claims Division o Workers' Compensation and TDI o Safety Employee Staffing Division o RecruitmenUProduction o Examination The staff offices are comprised of: Administrative Services Office o Initiates, prepares and executive annual operating budgets o Reviews, controls and processes all departmental expenditures o Provides personnel services to employees of the department Information Systems Office o Develops system design o Computerization of personnel functions The following agencies are placed within the Department of Human Resources Development for administrative purposes: Merit Appeals Board (formerly State Civil Service Commission) Board of Trustees Deferred Compensation Plan RESPONSIBILITY: The Department of Human Resource Development's Special Assistant has been assigned as the Language Access Coordinator (LAC). The LAC will be responsible for implementing the Language Access Plan; conducting the initial survey and subsequent surveys to monitor changes in DHRD's LEP population; producing the necessary internal documents that outline the policy and procedures of the plan; developing the training materials and planning training; and evaluating, reviewing and modifying the plan as needed, and will be submitted to the Office of Language Access every two years. The LAC will also maintain a list of departmental staff who have bilingual proficiency. DATA COLLECTION -INTERPRETER REQUIREMENT In order to address communication barriers of Limited English Proficient speaking individuals so that they may have meaningful access to our programs and services, DHRD has conducted a survey within the department to determine the frequency of contact with LEP individuals and which areas have the most frequency. To determine whether to provide language services, DHRD has considered the totality

3 Department of Human Resources Development Language Access Plan Page 3 of the circumstances as directed by the Office of Language Access using the following four-factor analysis: The number or proportion of limited English proficient speakers: o 105 people surveyed o Two contacted LEP persons two times per week o Two contacted LEP persons once a week o One had daily contact o 101 people had contact rarely or never Frequency of contact with DHRD: o 95 percent of the staff members rarely or never have contact Nature and importance of services provided: o Access to employment opportunities is important. While under Title VI, DHRD is not required to remove language barriers when in most cases English proficiency is a legitimate requirement of employment, DHRD recognizes the need for the LEP population to know that English proficiency is a requirement in most State jobs. Resources available to DHRD and the costs of providing interpretation and translation services: o The resources available to DHRD and the costs of providing interpretation and current translation services would be high and cost-prohibitive if using outside services. A blank copy of the DHRD Language Access Survey is attached. Copies of the completed surveys are kept in the LAC office. RESOURCES: Our survey revealed that there are a few in-house bilingual staff members available as resources. These staff members have agreed to be placed on a list and act as interpreters in the event their interpretation services are needed. However, if no staff member is available, the Bilingual Access Line offered by Helping Hands Hawaii will be used. They have interpreters for over a dozen languages primarily covering the Pacific Rim. Considering that the preponderance of the Hawaii State jobs require English language proficiency it is assumed that there will be a relatively low number of LEP persons requesting assistance. However, the Bilingual Access Line does provide interpretation and translation services upon request. PROCEDURE: A Notice of Language Service Multi-Lingual Poster provided by the Office of Language Access will be posted in plain view in all reception areas. It will also be posted along with the posted Notices for meetings of the Merit Appeals Board and the Deferred

4 Department of Human Resources Development Language Access Plan Page 4 Compensation Board. If it is determined an LEP individual needs assistance, a bilingual staff member will interpret. If no bilingual staff member is available, the Bilingual Access Line will be contacted to find an interpreter. At this time, based upon the initial survey of employees, no written materials will be translated. Because the number of persons in a LEP group was found to be less than 50, notice will be provided to LEP persons that written material will be orally interpreted. The procedure for providing translation of written materials will be revised in the event future surveys evidence a change in DHRD's LEP population, or English proficiency requirements. Also, if a request to translate written documents is received, the reasonableness of the request will be assessed, and the document will be translated if reasonable. REPORTING SYSTEM: A questionnaire has been developed and will be posted on the Local Area Network. (A blank copy of this questionnaire is attached). As staff members come into contact with LEP persons needing services, they will fill out the questionnaire and submit it to the LAC. HIRING OF BILINGUAL PERSONNEL: Pursuant to HRS (d), in the event that we require additional personnel to provide language access to our LEP customers, as determined by the guidelines in HRS (A)(1 )-(4) of this language access plan, we are willing to hire qualified personnel who are bilingual to fill existing, budgeted vacant public contact positions. TRAINING: The LAC will be responsible for development of materials and guidelines for training. These materials will be provided to the Division Chiefs and managers of the department for training their divisions. At the time of hire, all new employees will be informed of the departmental procedures for LEP individuals., r~ Laderta, Director Department of Human Resources Development Lcll;: ; 7Z Date/

5 Name Division Language Access Survey _ This survey is being done to determine the frequency of interactions with people of Limited English Proficiency. Please complete the survey below which will be the basis for baseline information. Please return it to Mitsi Kaneko by 9/14/ Does your work involve interaction with the public to provide services or answer any questions? Yes No 2. If you answered "yes" to Question 1, on average, how often during the course of a month do you encounter a member of the public who does not speak English as their primary language and who identifies themselves as having a limited ability to read, write, speak or understand the English language (an "LEP" person)? Never or rarely 3 times per week 1 time per week 4 times per week 2 times per week Daily 3. If you answered "yes" to Question 1 and you encounter limited English proficient persons as part of your work, please list the types of languages you are encountering (Also note if you encountered an LEP person and could not determine his/her primary language.) : 4. Of the LEP persons you have encountered, list the types of information the LEP persons wanted to access or assistance you provided these persons: 5. We anticipate creating a department directory in the event language assistance is needed. Do you speak, read or write a non-english language? If so, and you are willing to provide language assistance when needed by the Department, please provide the following information: Name: Phone: Languages: Division: Thank you all for your assistance!!

6 LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is to be completed by Staff providing services to an individual who is limited English proficiency (LEP). A LEP person is someone who does not speak English as their primary language and who self-identifies as having the limited ability to read, write, speak or understand the English language. Please complete the questionnaire for each LEP individual served and promptly turn it in to Mitsi Kaneko after the encounter. Staff Name: Date: _ Division/Office: Name of LEP Individual (if known): _ 1. What is the primary language spoken by the LEP person? (Burmese, Cambodian, Chamorro, Chuukese, liokano, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Cantonese, etc.) 2. List the type of services requested by this person: (e.g. applications, job information, benefits, etc.) 3. What was the outcome? How did you assist the person? 4. Was an interpreter used? If yes, who provided the interpreter service? (e.g. bilingual staff, contracted interpreter, telephone service, or community volunteer?) 5. Was the LEP person satisfied with your assistance? If no, please explain. Thank you for your assistance!!

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Human Resources Division

I. Introduction COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Human Resources Division Language Access Plan Effective January 24, 2013 The Human Resources Division ( HRD ) has prepared this Language Access Plan ( LAP