Courtroom interpreters reject state pay offer

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

An association of court interpreters has rejected a state judiciary proposal for a pay raise, charging that the plan will not increase income for those who translate proceedings and thus will not attract qualified professionals.

The Interpreter Action Network submitted a petition of 16 names to state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Moon after a judiciary committee released its proposed pay package. The group objects to the new plan because it switches from half-day to hourly rates, said spokeswoman Marcella Alohalani Boido.

The old rate was $40 or $50 for a four-hour shift, with the higher amount going to trial work. The new rate is $50 for a two-hour minimum, and $25 an hour beyond that.

"I don't think it's a meaningful pay raise," said Boido, noting that few jobs last two hours. There's no system for clocking an interpreter's time, she said, and interpreters are likely to work unpaid after their time is recorded.

Dew Kaneshiro, project director for the judiciary's Office on Equality and Access to the Courts, said the hourly scheme "reflects the time they actually work."

"Right now they get the same, whether they work for four hours or 15 minutes," she said.

Kaneshiro said the final proposal, which must be approved by judiciary administrative director Rick Keller, will include a system for checking interpreters in and out. A date for a decision has not been set.