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Cancellations
are a normal part of doing business. SLR has spent a
great deal of time considering the implications and
fairness to all parties involved; customer, consumer,
contractor, and sub-contractor. It is requested that the
interpreter become familiar with the cancellation
policies outlined below prior to accepting an assignment
to avoid any miscommunication or disappointment. If you
feel that there is any question, or something that is
not specifically outlined below, please be sure to
discuss this with SLR during the time of negotiation of
the assignment.
SLR
will leave notice of a last minute cancellation in multiple places: your mobile phone and your home
phone. Most interpreters have already given us the numbers they would prefer to
be contacted by when a last minute cancellation occurs. It is the interpreter's
responsibility to be sure that SLR is
continually made aware of any changes to their contact information.
CANCELLATION
BY SLR
Should SLR receive a cancellation from the
customer and/or consumer, SLR will notify interpreters as soon as the information is received. The
interpreter may or may not invoice for the contracted time based on the
conditions below. If the interpreter has not yet begun the trip to the work
site, then any travel reimbursement is not billable to SLR.
Part day or
one day assignments
Should SLR notify the
interpreter with less than 2 full business days notice from the date and time of
the assignment, then the interpreter may invoice SLR for the hours of the
assignment, less any negotiated travel reimbursement, provided the interpreter
has not started the trip to the consumer's site.
Two to four day assignments
Should SLR notify the interpreter with less than
4 full business days notice
from the date and time of each of the days of the assignment, then the
interpreter may invoice SLR for any of the days when notice is insufficient,
less any negotiated travel reimbursement, provided the interpreter has not
started the trip to the consumer's site. (Also see OTHER REQUESTS AFTER
CANCELLATION below.)
(Ex.
An assignment is scheduled for 10AM to 5PM on Monday the 15th through Thursday
the 18th, or four business days. Notification of
cancellation by SLR occurs on Wednesday, the 10th at 9:30AM. The interpreter may
then invoice for Monday the 15th, and Tuesday the 16th only. Wednesday the 17th,
and Thursday the 18th are not billable as notice is sufficient for the last two
days in this case.) For a calendar example of this refer to
CANCELLATION EXAMPLE FIGURE 1.
Five (or more) day assignments
Should SLR notify the interpreter with less than 9 full business days notice
from the date and time of each of the days of the assignment then the
interpreter may invoice SLR for any of the days when notice is insufficient,
less any negotiated travel reimbursement, provided the interpreter has not
started the trip to the consumer's site.
(Also see OTHER REQUESTS AFTER
CANCELLATION below.)
(Ex. An assignment is scheduled for 10AM to
5PM on Monday the 15th through Friday the 26th, or ten business days. Notification of
cancellation by SLR occurs on Monday the 8th at 9:30AM. The interpreter may then
invoice for the first week, or the 15th through the 19th, only.) For a calendar example of
this refer to
CANCELLATION EXAMPLE FIGURE 2.
Cancellation same day as
confirmed
In the event of an assignment being canceled with the confirmed interpreter
within two hours of the verbal confirmation of a last minute request (two
business days into the future), the interpreter shall not invoice SLR for the
cancellation.
OTHER
CIRCUMSTANCES
Other requests after cancellation
SLR makes every
attempt to be fair to our customers. SLR promises
its customers, that should a cancellation occur, they will try to place the
interpreters in other work, lessening the financial burden on them. This
sometimes occurs with multi-day assignments where we have encouraged customers
to plan early and book schedules. We feel that this is just one of the many
policies that keeps our customers coming back.
If the interpreter is to be paid
for cancelled work, and other interpreting work is requested through SLR for all
or part of the same cancelled hours, either by the same customer or
another, SLR
reserves the right to ask the interpreter to perform the other
work, under reasonable circumstances. Reasonable circumstances would mean that
SLR will not ask the interpreter to engage in an assignment that is beyond their
expertise, create a professional conflict, or travel an unreasonable distance.
The amount invoiced to SLR by the interpreter will be at least equal to that of
the original assignment, but for invoicing, may be divided into different jobs
and job numbers.
Appointment participant no show
If the interpreter arrives at the
assignment, waits a reasonable period, and either the Deaf consumer or any other
party involved in this appointment does not, and the appointment cannot proceed,
the interpreter shall invoice SLR and advise SLR of such.
Inclement
weather
If cancellation is made on the day of an
assignment due to inclement weather such as a snow storm, hurricane, flood or
even a power outage, billing shall be in accordance with the following.
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If the
interpreter IS NOT notified of the cancellation in time and leaves for the
assignment, the interpreter shall invoice SLR for the full contracted time for
that day plus any travel reimbursement that is pre-negotiated. |
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If the interpreter IS notified of the cancellation in time and does not leave
for the assignment, the interpreter shall not invoice SLR for any of the
contracted time for that day. |
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If there is no cancellation, and the interpreter arrives at the assignment but the
Deaf consumer does not, the interpreter shall invoice SLR for the full amount of
the contracted time
plus any travel reimbursement that
is pre-negotiated. |
Catastrophic
events
In the event of a cancellation due to a catastrophic
event, such as that of September 11, 2001, the interpreter shall not invoice
SLR. Under these circumstances we feel it is totally beyond anyone's
ability to foresee and would be unfair to invoice the customer.
CANCELLATION BY THE INTERPRETER
Interpreters unable to fulfill
an assignment shall notify SLR as soon as possible enhancing the possibility for a replacement to
be found. Please call the main office number at
845-566-7951. If the time is
during non-business hours, the answering service will immediately contact the
on-call person on SLR's staff and get back to you. The interpreter will not make
arrangements with another interpreter for the assignment in question.
Interpreters who cancel an
assignment shall not invoice SLR.
Sign Language Resources, Inc. spends a great deal of
time re-booking assignments two, three, and even four
times. Occasionally a customer needs to reschedule, an
inevitable part of daily business. Sometimes, however,
re-work is necessary when interpreters accept
assignments then notify us later that they are unable to
satisfy their commitments. Granted, we all do have
occasions of illness or emergency, but routine
cancellations when a more lucrative assignment arises
leaves us as well as the consumer in an unfair
predicament. A surprising number of re-booked
assignments are achieved, even though the administrative
time it takes is unfathomable. But still, occasionally,
at the eleventh hour after a considerable number of
phone calls, emails, and texts, working an interpreter
out of an assignment to everyone’s satisfaction may not
be possible. SLR would like all of its contractors to
recognize that time is money on the coordinating end as
well. While we all attempt to squeeze the most benefit
out of our time and hard work, when re-working
assignments takes double, triple and sometimes quadruple
the allotted time, what effort might have produced a
gain now may result in a financial loss for SLR, as well
as the erosion of customer loyalty.
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