1205.1 Pursuant to Section 2(2) of the Act, covered entities are any District government agency, department, or program that furnishes information or renders services, programs, or activities directly to the public or contracts with other entities, either directly or indirectly, to conduct programs, services or activities to the public.1205.2 The covered entity shall ensure that contractors hired to carry out services, programs or activities directly to the public are required to comply with the same requirements of covered entities.1205.3 The covered entity shall ensure that any grantee that provides services under a covered entity' mandate complies with the requirements of the Act.1205.4 The covered entity shall require that contractors and grantees, as described in 1205.2 and 1205.3, certify that the same compliance requirements will be satisfied by their subcontractors and sub-grantees.1205.5 Covered entities are distinguished from covered entities with major public contact, as described in § 1206.1205.6 The covered entity shall annually collect data about the languages spoken and the number of LEP/NEP customers speaking a given language in the population served by updating its databases and tracking applications to contain fields that will capture this information.1205.7 The covered entity shall determine its target language requirements for its LEP/NEP customers to access or participate in the services, programs, or activities they offer, based on the following factors and as determined by § 1205.6 and Section 3(c)(1) of the Act:- (a) The number or proportion of LEP/NEP persons of the population served or encountered by the covered entity;

- (b) The frequency with which LEP/NEP individuals come into contact with the covered entity;

- (c) The importance of the service provided by the covered entity; and

- (d) The resources available to the covered entity.1205.8 To the extent that a covered entity requires additional personnel to meet the target language requirements of the entity's LEP/NEP constituency, it shall, in consultation with its personnel authority, give preference to hiring qualified bilingual personnel into existing budgeted vacant public contact positions.

1205.9 The covered entity shall maintain a current account with a professional and qualified multilingual telephonic interpretation service that provides immediate oral language services to LEP/NEP customers and District staff in a variety of languages.1205.10 The covered entity shall ensure that the telephone interpretation service assists in providing access to customers who are both within and outside of LEP/NEP target languages as determined under § 1205.7.1205.11 The covered entity shall train all staff members in public contact positions on the usage of professional and qualified multilingual telephonic interpretation services and how to appropriately direct LEP/NEP customers to such services.1205.12 Appropriate signs/posters communicating the availability of language accessible services shall be placed at all conspicuous points of entry and other public locations at the covered entity. The signs or posters shall be in the language(s) that constitutes 3% or 500 individuals, whichever is less, of the population served or encountered by the covered entity.1205.13 When the services described in § 1205.9 are not reasonably sufficient to allow access to the services provided by the covered entity, the entity shall provide qualified and experienced in-person interpretation services to LEP/NEP customers in the entity's target languages, as determined under § 1205.7.1205.14 The covered entity shall provide oral language services to LEP/NEP customers who seek to access or participate in public meetings and administrative hearings conducted by the covered entity, provided that the request is received by the covered entity within five (5) business days of the meeting or hearing.1205.15 Requests for oral language services in advance of public meetings or hearings shall be made directly to the entity's Language Access Coordinator, as described in § 1207, in person, via phone, or by electronic mail.1205.16 The covered entity shall provide written translation of vital documents into any non-English language spoken by a LEP/NEP population that constitutes 3% or 500 individuals, whichever is less, of the population served or encountered by the covered entity.1205.17 The covered entity shall ensure that all vital documents that are translated into any non-English language spoken by a LEP/NEP population are widely distributed within the agency, accessible at points of entry, and available online.1205.18 The covered entity must also obtain written acknowledgment from each LEP/NEP customer who waives his/her rights to interpretation or translation services prior to the individual accessing the entity's services.

SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 55 DCR 6348 (June 6, 2008).