Anti-Interpreter Legislation in Front of House and Senate

Links to HB1386 and SB 5233

Language referral agencies are pushing for new legislation which eliminates interpreters working through a referral agency from protection from employment laws. If passed, this law would excuse referral agencies from employment claims from interpreters for wage theft, unpaid overtime, and unpaid minimum wage. This bill also protects referral agencies from associated expenses from hiring interpreters such as worker's compensation when interpreters are injured on the job.

Sources report Dynamic Language, a referral agency based in Washington state, is paying a lobbyist $4,000 per month to push this legislation. See here.

This law would lump interpreters into other excluded employment categories such as domestic workers in private homes, teenagers employed on family farms, musicians contracted for a specific engagement, and paper boys and girls. Interpreters are highly educated and trained professionals and we are concerned this bill would strip interpreters of necessary legal protection from agency exploitation and could leave us out to dry if we are injured on the job.

What to do:

-Call or email your representatives and let them know you are opposed to this legislation. Find your Reps here at http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

-Come to testify or support your colleagues by testifying during hearings when they come up or testify against the bill yourself