Court interpreters begin work stoppage amid pay dispute
Freelance legal interpreters in Minnesota began a work stoppage Monday and are refusing to accept new court assignments amid a long-running dispute with the state over pay.
The interpreters, who play a key role in civil and criminal hearings in which participants have limited English proficiency, say that a new rate of $65 per hour that took effect Monday is nowhere near enough to keep pace with a quarter century of inflation.
Spanish language interpreter Maria Lander-Cabrera said business expenses eat in to freelancers’ already low earnings, so many have gravitated toward better-paying gigs in the private sector.
“After taxes, after Social Security payments, after insurance, it’s actually not tenable for many many people, which is why there’s been such an atrophy of interpreters in our profession in the courts.”
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Lander-Cabrera said interpreters should receive at least $95 an hour to keep up with the cost of living.
“All we’re asking for is not even a raise,” she said. “What we are asking for is to have our purchasing power restored to what it was in 1997 when they established a rate of $50 per hour.”
In a recent letter to the group of about 100 interpreters, State Court Administrator Jeff Shorba promised to ask lawmakers for another $1.525 million this year to increase pay for certified spoken language interpreters to $75 an hour. Shorba asked the interpreters to help the court system secure the funding “by lobbying alongside” the Judicial Branch.
Lander-Cabrera noted that in 2017, without the support of the Judicial Branch, interpreters testified at the Legislature and received a two-dollar pay increase.
In an email to MPR News Monday afternoon, Judicial Branch spokesperson Kim Pleticha said that so far, the work stoppage has not affected court operations.
“Out of 361 events, we have 45 that are currently awaiting an interpreter to be assigned. But this is not significantly higher than normal,” Pleticha wrote. “We have had zero interpreter no-shows and no mass cancellations. If needed, we will triage interpreter coverage using the same system we employed during the pandemic to prioritize cases. But that hasn’t been necessary yet.”
Interpreters for people who are deaf or hard of hearing are paid up to $120 per hour, according to the new Judicial Branch pay scale.
Several Minnesota counties have a small number of staff interpreters who are not part of the work stoppage, but courts rely heavily on freelancers for the bulk of the work. The action does not affect Minnesota’s federal courts, where Lander-Cabrera said pay is much better.