LANGUAGE RIGHTS

Your Rights to Interpreter Services at the Mass. Dept. of Transitional Assistance (DTA)

• Did you know that the DTA has certain obligations when serving recipients of TAFDC (Transitional Assistance for Families with Dependent Children)and other types of public assistance who do not speak English or are of limited English proficiency (LEP)?



• Whenever possible, DTA must assign LEP cases to staff fluent in that recipient's language.



• If such staff is not feasible, DTA must provide an interpreter for recipients, unless they indicate that they prefer to bring their own. This right to an interpreter applies in all of the Department's operations, not just fair hearings.



• DTA must not burden other community agencies serving LEP clients to provide "on-call" interpretation for the Department's activities.



• All notices from DTA, if not in the recipients own language, shall include a multi language statement that states "IMPORTANT"! This notice affects your rights and responsibilities and should be translated immediately." That statement should also inform recipients that if they need help translating the notice, DTA will provide a bilingual staff member to assist them.



• DTA must make available to LEP recipients the "Your Rights to Interpreter Services" and " I speak" cards in variety of languages, so that they may identify themselves as persons needing interpreter services and learn about their rights.

To learn more about interpreter rights and efforts being made to enforce these rights, please contact Gretchen Zegarra(x281) or Rita Cheresnowsky (X 615) at Greater Boston Legal Services, 617-371-7234