Bilingual Pay Incentive

 

Purpose

To support the College’s core theme of cultural richness, our strategic goals, and the College values, by encouraging the development of employee language skills to intentionally address the needs of students and members within our community.

 

Statement

Eligible employees, as identified below, may qualify for a bilingual pay incentive. Hourly non-exempt confidential employees who meet qualification requirements will receive a stipend in the amount of $150.00 per month worked, to be articulated on the annual payroll authorization. Employees who are less than 1.0 FTE, will receive the incentive on a pro-rata basis. Upon separation of employment, partial months shall be paid on a pro-rata basis.

Part-time non-contracted classified employees that meet qualification requirements will immediately advance one step on the part-time non-contracted classified salary schedule. Employees who are at the top step of the salary schedule at the time of their initial certification will be carried on an ongoing basis at a compensation level four (4) percent above the top step of their applicable grade.

Bargaining Unit Employees

Bilingual incentive pay for contracted classified employees is subject to the Independent Association of Classified Employees (IACE) collective bargaining agreement, and shall be governed by that agreement.

Procedures for Hourly, Non-Exempt Confidential, and Part-Time Non-contracted Classified Staff

• Eligibility
  1. The bilingual pay incentive is available to any hourly, non-exempt confidential employee or any part-time non-contracted classified employee who is evaluated and formally certified as proficient in conversational Spanish, by a College-approved certification professional.
  2. The incentive is attached to the person, and therefore eligibility is transferable as the person may take on new or additional eligible positions within the College or the LBCC Foundation.
  3. It is the responsibility of the employee to keep their conversational language skills current. The College reserves the ongoing right to re-evaluate an individual employee’s language proficiency periodically as the need may arise.
  4. The College reserves the right to re-evaluate the application of the bilingual incentive periodically as student demographics change.
  5. The application of the incentive is contingent upon the need for specific language skills to best serve student and community populations that reach “critical mass.” For the purpose of this rule, "critical mass" is defined as at least 10% of the incoming student base as indicated on demographic projections for the district, and college admissions/registration data
  6. If a conversational language skill other than Spanish is identified by the College as valuable in a particular position or locality, the direct supervisor may recommend the bilingual pay incentive be applied to individual eligible employees who demonstrate and retain proficiency in that language. These special bilingual pay incentives may be granted only with approval of the applicable Vice- President. In these cases, the eligibility criterion expressed in parts 3 and 4 above still apply.
• Certification
  1. To receive the bilingual pay incentive, the employee must be certified as proficient in conversational Spanish by a College-approved certification professional or agency.
• Procedure
  1. To receive the bilingual pay incentive, the following steps must be completed:
     1. The employee may request bilingual certification by completing the Bilingual Certification Request Form, and turning that form in to their immediate supervisor.
     2. The employee’s immediate supervisor must acknowledge receipt and forward the request to Human Resources.
     3. Human Resources will be responsible for scheduling the certification assessment.  Assessments will be scheduled as needed. The requesting employee will be responsible for completion of the certification assessment.
     4. Upon successful completion of the assessment, the employee shall provide the certification documentation to their immediate supervisor.
     5. The immediate supervisor will forward the documentation of certification and a new/revised payroll authorization reflecting application of the incentive to Human Resources for payroll processing. For part-time employees with more than one position, the employee will be responsible for notifying each supervisor of the incentive award to assure it is applied consistently to all eligible positions.
     6. Application of the incentive shall be effective immediately at the start of the pay period subsequent to the successful completion of the certification assessment.
        
        

Responsibilities and Expectations

Those employees who receive the bilingual pay incentive will, when called upon, utilize their conversational language skill to respond to student/customer needs.

Employees with demonstrated language proficiency will be retained in a conversational language skills database and may be called upon at any time for the purpose of assisting co-workers in conversation with students or community members who may benefit from dialog in their first or preferred language.

Employees retained in the language skills database are expected to respond timely to such requests. Any pattern of failure to respond or failure to comply with such requests may lead to revocation of the pay incentive.

 

 

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