The Minnesota courts remain without hundreds of interpreters as they continue their work stoppage, which is now in its third week.
The interpreters demand better hourly rates, which they say have barely increased in nearly 30 years and haven’t kept pace with inflation, hurting their buying power and ability to support themselves. Lawmakers hope to step in and help resolve the issue when the legislative session begins in the coming weeks, before the lack of interpreters adds to a backlog in cases made worse by the pandemic.
Work stoppage
The hourly rate for court interpreters was established at $50 in 1997. More than 20 years later, the rate increased to $52 in 2018, then again to $56 in 2021. The new compensation policy from the Minnesota court system that went into effect earlier this month brings the rate up to $65 per hour – a lot less than the $95 the interpreters are asking for.
In addition to the increase, the new policy prevents interpreters from counting travel time as hours worked (which was the case beforehand), and significantly reduces the remote work rate.
Spanish-language interpreter Sally Nichols, 61, said the rate they’re asking for keeps up with inflation. Since the interpreters are contract workers, it also helps support their ability to pay for essentials like health insurance and savings, she said.
“The $95 that we’re asking for – that is not an eight hour a day rate, and that is not even an everyday rate. It would only be when we do happen to work for the courts and usually it’s for two hours at a time,” she said. “It’s not even a guaranteed number of hours per week.”
Nichols first began her interpreting career in Chicago in 1990, before moving to Minnesota in 1999 and continuing her work here. Due to the stoppage, Nichols and many other interpreters are finding work elsewhere, including schools, between attorneys and their clients, and remotely for the Wisconsin court system.
“The advantage of working for the Minnesota courts is that we are primarily court interpreters. We’re trained to work in court, we really enjoy working in this court and being part of the court system,” she said. “That’s been a sad thing for a lot of us, that the work that we really enjoyed doing and that we’ve been trained to do, it really doesn’t pay for us to continue to do.”
The possible solution
The longer the disagreement between the courts and the interpreters continues, the more likely issues that already exist within the system are exacerbated. The lack of translators interferes with the rights of non-English speaking to receive fair hearings, and more of those cases are pushed back or rescheduled until an interpreter is found, adding to the backlog from the pandemic that is still being addressed by the courts.
“Whether it’s a first appearance or a settlement conference or a jury trial, it simply can’t continue if you don’t have a good interpreter available to handle the case,” said DFL state Sen. Ron Latz of St. Louis Park, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It slows down the process, it can delay justice for the defendants and it can delay justice for the victims, creating more of a backlog of cases and more inefficiencies as well.”
Latz sent a letter to the Minnesota Supreme Court just days after the work stoppage began, calling the court interpreters integral and pledging to hold a hearing once the legislative session begins in a few weeks.
In an interview, Latz said there are several factors at play that will affect when and how the issue can be resolved, including the February budget forecast and supplemental budget targets from caucus leaders.
“We can’t make early decisions on it or respond to any supplemental budget requests at this point anyway,” he said. “But we can set the table, we can lay the foundation for it, gather the information so that we’ll be able to provide something and hopefully the courts will be able to find a way to address this gap as well.”
