Working
with the Pennsylvania Farmworker Project of Philadelphia Legal Assistance
this summer has been an invaluable experience. I’ve had the opportunity to
work with and reach out to a vulnerable class of people who constantly face
discrimination. They are repeatedly paid far below minimum wage while
working 60-80 hour work weeks to support their families. While working with
the Pennsylvania Farmworker Project, I’ve been able to see first hand many
of the injustices that farmworkers face on a daily basis and how their
limited English proficiency hinders these workers from fully attaining a
favorable outcome through the justice system. In addition to their language
barrier, they also face difficulties within the legal system because of
cultural norms.
This
summer I have learned that the legal profession is in desperate need of
attorneys who are fluent in languages other than English. Because Spanish
is my first language, I’ve never given much thought to the need for
interpretation, or even the possibility of issues that arise when using
interpreters. Fortunately, within the unit where I worked everyone knew
Spanish, the dominant language of our client base. This summer I was able
to see how dramatically issues of interpretation can affect a client’s case.
A mistake in one word can completely alter the testimony of the client.
Some of the interpreters are not native speakers. Consequently, they are
not able to pick up inferences from different cultures and interpret the
correct and/or complete meaning of the word the client is trying to convey
based on their specific culture. One word in Spanish may mean different
things to the different Hispanic cultures. Other times, interpreters simply
misinterpret what the client is saying just because they do not have enough
knowledge of the language. This is all too common.
If the attorney does
not speak the language of the client, there is no way to verify that the
information is truly the information the client is trying to present.
Attorneys and other parties involved rely on the interpreter to understand
what is happening. If they don’t know the native language of the client,
they have no reason to doubt what the interpreter is telling them. Because
of their inability to speak and understand English, these clients face
multiple disadvantages. It’s difficult for farmworkers to seek remedy as
most of them don’t know their rights under United States law. Most
automatically assume that they have no rights. Others are just grateful to
have a job and prefer not to do anything that may jeopardize that. Once
they obtain legal representation, and as much as the attorney wants to help
them, if the attorney is not aware of the full story the client is
presenting, they are limited in their ability to achieve justice for the
client.
Aside
from the issues that arise through the use of interpreters, it was also
apparent that culture influences the type of outcome clients could achieve
when their rights were violated. Growing up in a culture similar to that of
our clients, I understand the philosophies which drive their actions and
motivations. Never did I think that this culture would affect the legal
process. Clients were being penalized for following the cultural norms from
their respective countries. These norms are not illegal or frowned upon in
the United States, but simply – just different. For example, Hispanic
workers from low-income backgrounds are extremely grateful to have a job.
Because of the lack of education, low skills, and because they cannot speak
English, they are not willing to say anything to their boss that may seem
controversial or endanger their job in any way. Instead, they will tell
their superiors that they are upset about a particular aspect of their job
and will leave it up to the employer to correct the situation. However, if
these workers do not specifically ask for a remedy, they are in the wrong
because the justice system does not understand why the remedy was not
specifically asked for. This is true even if the employer was made fully
aware that they wanted a remedy. Neither the employer nor the justice
system takes into account that the workers tried to find other ways to
remedy the problem without directly complaining to their boss about working
conditions.
Overall,
my experience with the Pennsylvania Farmworker Project opened my eyes to
issues I never thought would even be a problem. Now I know that there are
many other factors that can affect clients’ cases such as issues with
interpretation and cultural differences.
