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Post by prescient on Feb 16, 2016 8:20:23 GMT -5
Me too! In addition to all of SoCal, Miami and PR are on my GAL. I don't think being a Spanish speaker is the "be all", but it can't hurt. I am one of two Spanish speaking people at my current job and we rely heavily on court interpreters - even if we speak Spanish we have to use the interpreters. Although I understand that in PR the hearing themselves are all done in Spanish. I was curious about the comment Gary made about it being difficult to transfer out of PR. Is it PR specifically, or is it difficult to transfer in general? not sure, i have heard all sorts of things about PR and don't know what is fact and fiction. i heard there was only one ALJ but i think there are more. Based on the CBA, a person would have to be able to eventually get out of there if they request a transfer to a city easy to transfer to. it is possible the agency asks/begs people to stay there longer due to need for Spanish speakers. Overall, transferring is based on the union contract, which i think boils down to date a person requested a transfer, where they requested a transfer to, and how many people requested a transfer to the same city before them. plus is there an opening where they want to go? on paper, a new judge has to stay at their hiring office for at least 15 months(this is very new change), once a person transfers, they cannot request another transfer for 2 years, and i think you can only request up to 5 offices to transfer to at one time. and by on paper i mean you can't expect to be at your first office 15 months and one day, and assume a transfer door will open. there has to be an opening where you want to go. the rumors about atty/paralegal offices being available to judges before too long may make it easier to transfer. But at this point, the NTEU attorneys(which covers most but not all the ODAR attorneys) are not required to office share yet. We will be, most likely sooner, rather than later, if we telework a lot, but my long winded point is the hoped for extra judge offices are not available yet. and now that we have video hearings, not sure how that will impact transfers. I think there is some provision that a transfer out can be blocked if it would create some type of hardship on the exiting office. Even though video hearings could be adequately conducted with the use of a translator, how can one decide a case where all the evidence is in Spanish? I know there is some service where the records can be translated, but from my understanding it is very slow and expensive.
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Post by gary on Feb 16, 2016 8:23:33 GMT -5
not sure, i have heard all sorts of things about PR and don't know what is fact and fiction. i heard there was only one ALJ but i think there are more. Based on the CBA, a person would have to be able to eventually get out of there if they request a transfer to a city easy to transfer to. it is possible the agency asks/begs people to stay there longer due to need for Spanish speakers. Overall, transferring is based on the union contract, which i think boils down to date a person requested a transfer, where they requested a transfer to, and how many people requested a transfer to the same city before them. plus is there an opening where they want to go? on paper, a new judge has to stay at their hiring office for at least 15 months(this is very new change), once a person transfers, they cannot request another transfer for 2 years, and i think you can only request up to 5 offices to transfer to at one time. and by on paper i mean you can't expect to be at your first office 15 months and one day, and assume a transfer door will open. there has to be an opening where you want to go. the rumors about atty/paralegal offices being available to judges before too long may make it easier to transfer. But at this point, the NTEU attorneys(which covers most but not all the ODAR attorneys) are not required to office share yet. We will be, most likely sooner, rather than later, if we telework a lot, but my long winded point is the hoped for extra judge offices are not available yet. and now that we have video hearings, not sure how that will impact transfers. I think there is some provision that a transfer out can be blocked if it would create some type of hardship on the exiting office. Even though video hearings could be adequately conducted with the use of a translator, how can one decide a case where all the evidence is in Spanish? I know there is some service where the records can be translated, but from my understanding it is very slow and expensive. After the most recent Republican debate the solution is obvious--have all the records translated by Ted Cruz.
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Post by christina on Feb 16, 2016 8:26:07 GMT -5
ahh, that makes sense, so there is some validity to it's hard to get out of PR rumors then. thank you. i forget about office hardship trumps. would almost never apply for an attorney so i forgot all about that. my guess is NTEU has a similar clause but i don't even know for sure. But i do know workload needs can trump union provisions generally.
Good tip from prescient.
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Post by christina on Feb 16, 2016 8:27:14 GMT -5
I think there is some provision that a transfer out can be blocked if it would create some type of hardship on the exiting office. Even though video hearings could be adequately conducted with the use of a translator, how can one decide a case where all the evidence is in Spanish? I know there is some service where the records can be translated, but from my understanding it is very slow and expensive. After the most recent Republican debate the solution is obvious--have all the records translated by Ted Cruz. Gary, that is hilarious!! i guess his dad could be an contract adviser if TC gets stuck.
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Post by jiaalk on Feb 16, 2016 10:26:48 GMT -5
Lately I have noticed that some job postings (private sector) are requesting native Spanish speaking instead of fluent in Spanish. I think the distinction between the 2 levels of fluency would be an issue for an ALJ in Puerto Rico if the hearings are truly held in Spanish. Noting that in the PR Federal District Court and Bankruptcy Courts all hearings are strictly in English. Also, I have rarely seen a USAJOB posting for an attorney that required fluency in Spanish and, other than what I read here about PR ALJs, I haven't read of other ALJ's positions that required a second language.
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Post by southerngal on Feb 16, 2016 10:56:35 GMT -5
Ooh. I'm fluent in Spanish. Add me to the informal survey. Nice to know there are at least 4 others. Me too! In addition to all of SoCal, Miami and PR are on my GAL. I don't think being a Spanish speaker is the "be all", but it can't hurt. I am one of two Spanish speaking people at my current job and we rely heavily on court interpreters - even if we speak Spanish we have to use the interpreters. Although I understand that in PR the hearing themselves are all done in Spanish. I was curious about the comment Gary made about it being difficult to transfer out of PR. Is it PR specifically, or is it difficult to transfer in general? In my courtroom, we used interpreters also. I do read Spanish and understand spoken Spanish. An anecdote from my judge days: once there was a very handsome Latin man who was accused of assaulting an individual. The woman who was interpreter was clearly impressed with the defendant. She tried to help him some by changing his "testimony" to reflect that he might not have been the aggressor. She was quite taken aback when I said, "That's not what the defendant said."
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Post by sealaw90 on Feb 16, 2016 14:32:44 GMT -5
Me too! In addition to all of SoCal, Miami and PR are on my GAL. I don't think being a Spanish speaker is the "be all", but it can't hurt. I am one of two Spanish speaking people at my current job and we rely heavily on court interpreters - even if we speak Spanish we have to use the interpreters. Although I understand that in PR the hearing themselves are all done in Spanish. I was curious about the comment Gary made about it being difficult to transfer out of PR. Is it PR specifically, or is it difficult to transfer in general? In my courtroom, we used interpreters also. I do read Spanish and understand spoken Spanish. An anecdote from my judge days: once there was a very handsome Latin man who was accused of assaulting an individual. The woman who was interpreter was clearly impressed with the defendant. She tried to help him some by changing his "testimony" to reflect that he might not have been the aggressor. She was quite taken aback when I said, "That's not what the defendant said." Oh, I think a few of us with criminal law backgrounds could point to a story like that. The Arabic interpreters were not much better in Iraq. Can't begin to tell you how pissed I was , makes my blood boil just thinking about it.
However, 99% of the time, interpreters are perfectly fine and true to the speakers words.
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Post by Ace Midnight on Feb 16, 2016 14:36:15 GMT -5
Sea - I have a funny story on that point. One of my NCOs did a bunch of interrogations during Desert Storm. He had a Kuwaiti interpreter, but he was a decent Arabic linguist himself. He was in the middle of an interrogation one time - he traditionally went all English and let his interpreter translate. At one point, the interpreter looked at him and asked, in English, "How do you say artillery in Arabic?" This was obviously disconcerting to the Iraqi subject who broke quickly after that.
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Post by HappyDaze on Feb 16, 2016 15:56:40 GMT -5
Lately I have noticed that some job postings (private sector) are requesting native Spanish speaking instead of fluent in Spanish. I think the distinction between the 2 levels of fluency would be an issue for an ALJ in Puerto Rico if the hearings are truly held in Spanish. Noting that in the PR Federal District Court and Bankruptcy Courts all hearings are strictly in English. Also, I have rarely seen a USAJOB posting for an attorney that required fluency in Spanish and, other than what I read here about PR ALJs, I haven't read of other ALJ's positions that required a second language. When I updated my GAL to include PR I am also 99% sure that there was an asterisk that indicated "must be Spanish speaking". It caught my attention because that was the only time I as that.
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Post by malshalj on Feb 16, 2016 17:39:46 GMT -5
Ooh. I'm fluent in Spanish. Add me to the informal survey. Nice to know there are at least 4 others. Me too! In addition to all of SoCal, Miami and PR are on my GAL. I don't think being a Spanish speaker is the "be all", but it can't hurt. I am one of two Spanish speaking people at my current job and we rely heavily on court interpreters - even if we speak Spanish we have to use the interpreters. Although I understand that in PR the hearing themselves are all done in Spanish. I was curious about the comment Gary made about it being difficult to transfer out of PR. Is it PR specifically, or is it difficult to transfer in general?
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Post by malshalj on Feb 16, 2016 17:40:33 GMT -5
Me too! In addition to all of SoCal, Miami and PR are on my GAL. I don't think being a Spanish speaker is the "be all", but it can't hurt. I am one of two Spanish speaking people at my current job and we rely heavily on court interpreters - even if we speak Spanish we have to use the interpreters. Although I understand that in PR the hearing themselves are all done in Spanish. I was curious about the comment Gary made about it being difficult to transfer out of PR. Is it PR specifically, or is it difficult to transfer in general? Have you received a "Status Complete" yet?
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Post by auroraborealis on Feb 16, 2016 18:22:45 GMT -5
Note to Pixie, can we move/start a new thread on the spanish/foreign language theme?
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Post by HappyDaze on Feb 16, 2016 18:29:23 GMT -5
Have you received a "Status Complete" yet? Yes on 2/11/16
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Post by christina on Feb 16, 2016 22:36:20 GMT -5
Note to Pixie, can we move/start a new thread on the spanish/foreign language theme? I will start one, i began the whole tangent after all
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Post by auroraborealis on Feb 17, 2016 1:28:56 GMT -5
Thanks, Christina! Every time I saw an update on the thread I was getting faked out that maybe the news had finally arrived, lol!
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Post by sealaw90 on Feb 17, 2016 9:24:58 GMT -5
Sea - I have a funny story on that point. One of my NCOs did a bunch of interrogations during Desert Storm. He had a Kuwaiti interpreter, but he was a decent Arabic linguist himself. He was in the middle of an interrogation one time - he traditionally went all English and let his interpreter translate. At one point, the interpreter looked at him and asked, in English, "How do you say artillery in Arabic?" This was obviously disconcerting to the Iraqi subject who broke quickly after that. That's a good story, thanks for sharing. My laugh for the day.
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Post by Gaidin on Feb 17, 2016 17:23:45 GMT -5
If you get your NOR and you don't want to "out" yourself please pm someone you know will hold your confidentiality and tell them that NORs are rolling out.
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Post by malshalj on Feb 17, 2016 19:58:53 GMT -5
I'm in the "group of losers" also. I was completely at peace with the decision and had not given it much thought until the email in August. The email was a blessing and a curse. I'm glad I'm still in the running (at least until my exam and interview are graded) but now there is one more thing to worry about. I'm a sole practitioner and I'm at the point where I have to invest more for the business. It would be great if I knew something before I had to take on more risks but the world isn't built that way. It's full speed ahead until I hear something. Good luck to everyone. I wonder if I tested with you. When did you test?
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Post by 71stretch on Feb 18, 2016 17:56:34 GMT -5
If you get your NOR and you don't want to "out" yourself please pm someone you know will hold your confidentiality and tell them that NORs are rolling out. So many NORs are going to roll out at once that I really don't think confidentiality is a worry if the score itself is not disclosed. I'd suggest everyone stop stressing and obsessing about what Application Manager says or doesn't say (it isn't always accurate or current) and go on with your lives. When the NOR emails do go out, you will find out either directly or here, indirectly. The stress is not worth it.
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ram
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by ram on Feb 19, 2016 11:37:03 GMT -5
I doubt that fluency in Spanish or lack thereof will affect OPM's scoring of a person's WD and/or SI. it wont but it may show the process is lacking. Hard to have proper due process in PR if SSA can't even get enough names on the register of people who can handle cases down there . And what our informal surveys show 4 fluent people on this board, or at least in pending status, not too many attorneys out there who can handle that kind of a caseload. of course, if we want to do it truly right, we should look for judges, at least a small handful, in other languages too, i've met some interpreters, they do a great job, but stuff can get lost in translation. Better to have a judge who knows exactly what the claimant is saying. Hello. Can I be added to the list of fluent people on this board?
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