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TIMELINESS
Interpreters contracting work with SLR should adhere to the industry
standard and arrive at a job site 10 to 15 minutes before the confirmed
start time. When an interpreter is going to be late for an appointment,
the interpreter needs to notify SLR of this as soon as possible,
preferably while on route. Showing up late reflects badly on the
interpreter and SLR and, most importantly, shows little respect for the
participants' valuable time. Therefore, the interpreter needs to make
every possible attempt to avoid tardiness by regularly considering the
distance and traffic to be encountered along the route to a job site.
Interpreters, who consistently show up late for appointments, will be
put on a timeliness offenders "watch list". The SLR coordinators will be
advised to regularly review this "watch list" before contacting
interpreters for work. Additionally, interpreters will be required to
reflect their lateness in their billing to SLR by billing from the time
of their late arrival. For example, for all day work at a local
corporation where the interpreter is confirmed from 8am to 4pm and
shows up at 8:30am, the interpreter will be required to reflect their
lateness by billing SLR for 7 1/2 (seven and a half) hours, so that SLR
can reflect the same in their billing to the court to honor the
business' inconvenience.
DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT
When a requestor asks for a certain amount of time and is to be billed
for that time, SLR requests that the interpreter be available for the
full duration. If the interpreter finishes early and is notified by
the requestor that they have no other business for them to take care of,
the interpreter may leave. Similarly when an interpreter is contacted
for court work that is normally billable as a 3 hour minimum appearance,
but is only available to that court for part of the time, (ie. one (1)
hour) the interpreter will only charge SLR a 2 hour appearance fee plus
travel expenses, if applicable.
INFORMATION SHARING
SLR believes that a rotation of interpreters for ongoing assignments is
beneficial for the consumer as well as the team of interpreters. This
allows several interpreters to become fluent in the topics discussed at
a site or for a particular consumer. Interpreters, therefore, may be
asked to share pertinent information with SLR and/or other interpreters
scheduled for subsequent assignments.
SLR staff and scheduled
interpreters will regard this information as highly confidential. This might include:
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location |
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travel and parking |
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schedules |
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contact information |
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pertinent case details |
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specialized vocabulary and procedures |
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group dynamics |
EXCLUSIVITY
EXCLUSIVITY OF EMPLOYMENT Unless otherwise negotiated, interpreters contracted by SLR shall not accept
full or part-time regular employment directly from the client for a minimum of
one year from the last day of contracted services with the client.
EXCLUSIVITY OF
ASSIGNMENT ACCEPTANCE
While SLR is under contract
to provide interpreting services, the interpreters who go to those
contacted locations shall not accept work from those locations directly.
SLR is to be contacted by the requestor if they would like the
interpreter to return to their location. An SLR business card can be
given to SLR's on-site point of contact by the interpreter with the
interpreter's name written on the line provided on the card.
INSURANCE
SLR does not provide
insurance of any kind to self-employed individuals/sub-contractors who perform
services for SLR. However, you may
view
RID membership
information and
contact RID to get the names of underwriters for
various kinds of insurances that are available.
SLR, however, does need to keep proof of automobile, disability, and malpractice
insurance, or a signed hold harmless agreement, on file.
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE Interpreters
shall furnish SLR with proof of current automobile insurance, to be kept on file
at the SLR office. The copy of the policy shall be provided annually or upon
renewal of the policy.
DISABILITY INSURANCE Interpreters
with disability insurance shall provide a copy of their current policy, to be
kept on file at the SLR office. The copy of the policy shall be provided
annually or upon renewal of the policy. Interpreters without disability
insurance shall sign a "Hold Harmless" agreement.
MALPRACTICE INSURANCE
Interpreters with malpractice insurance shall provide a copy of their current
policy, to be kept on file at the SLR office. The copy of the policy shall be
provided annually or upon renewal of the policy. Interpreters without
malpractice insurance must sign a "Hold Harmless" agreement.
"HOLD HARMLESS"
AGREEMENT
A "Hold Harmless" agreement, when signed by an interpreter, releases SLR from
liability incurred when the interpreter does not carry disability or malpractice
insurance.
W-9
FORM
No taxes will be deducted from your payments and you will be sent a Form 1099 at
the end of the year. A W-9 form from all vendors is required to be on file with
SLR, as is required by the IRS identifying your tax ID number, or your Social
Security number. SLR will mail this form to you as needed.
CONFIDENTIAL DISCLOSURE AFFADAVIT (CDA)
Some companies, like the IBM corporation, require that interpreters contracted
to work at their sites shall sign a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA).
Even though sign language interpreters certified by the Registry of Interpreters
for the Deaf or National Association Of The Deaf are bound to a complete Code Of
Ethics, and are required to keep all information confidential, these companies are
required by their policies to have such documents on file. The CDA shall be
signed every two years and SLR's business office will contact you when this is
necessary.
PRIVACY
SLR
respects the privacy of the interpreters we subcontract with. We will never pass
on or sell your information to other entities. However, we do believe that when
a team is placed together they should communicate prior to the assignment about
such things as set up, roles, teaming preferences, language preferences, special needs, location to meet, and last
minute contact method such as cell phone or pager number in the event of an
emergency or a delay.
Since we
"confirm" most of our assignments with an email, it will contain email addresses
of the team members. If you do not wish that this be shared, please let us know,
and your info will not appear. Making arrangements in this case can always be
done through SLR. Otherwise, you may contact your teammate prior to the
assignment using this email address to obtain other contact methods.
Equally, we respect the privacy of our individual consumers. We will supply you
with contact information of
the corporation, organization, or requesting party prior to an assignment.
We will also pass on the work TTY number, email address, or pager number if
given to us for the purpose of sharing with interpreters, but never home
numbers. If you, as the
interpreter, in the case of an ongoing assignment, wish to have direct contact
with the deaf client to communicate delays due to inclement weather, emergency,
or illness, you may exchange home or personal contact information with the client on your own
after your first meeting. See
Code Of Ethics.
Of course, it is worth noting, that if a change
does occur
either in time or date, you are required to keep SLR informed so that the
billing to the paying entity can reflect this. Please call or email SLR
immediately.
PRO-BONO ASSIGNMENTS
SLR has two
kinds of PRO BONO
assignments. One in which SLR receives a call for services directly from a
consumer for weddings, funerals, etc, or from a non-profit organization, and
passes on the information to an available subcontracting interpreter. The
interpreter then makes arrangements directly with the client, obtaining details
and negotiating payment without further coordinating from SLR. In this case SLR
does not charge the customer for "finding" an available interpreter, and payment
for actual interpreting services is made directly from the consumer to the
interpreter.
The other kind of
pro-bono assignment is
one that falls under the activities of LEND
A HAND DEAF SERVICES, INC., SLR's
not-for-profit segment.
In this case SLR will do the coordinating from
start to finish, but payment for coordinating as well as interpreting services will be
paid by Lend A Hand, and the consumer pays a discounted amount or nothing.
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