Background

This transmittal amends section I-2-6-10 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to update instructions about conducting hearings involving a foreign language interpreter. We also made significant editorial and formatting changes.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We revised section I-2-6-10 as follows:

HALLEX I-2-6-10 – We moved some information previously not in a subsection to subsection A and other information to HALLEX I-2-1-70.

HALLEX I-2-6-10 A – We moved information previously in this subsection to subsection B and changed the title to “General.” We included a reference to HALLEX I-2-1-70 for instructions on how an administrative law judge (ALJ) will determine whether an interpreter is necessary before the hearing. We made editorial changes to the language and removed information that was duplicative of information in HALLEX I-2-1-70. We added a NOTE explaining that use of an interpreter does not prohibit an ALJ from complying with his or her responsibilities under 20 CFR 404.1564(b)(5) and 416.964(b)(5).

HALLEX I-2-6-10 B – We moved the information previously in this subsection to subsection C and changed the title to “Certification for the Record.” We incorporated information previously in subsection A and clarified that an ALJ need not certify a contract interpreter hired under the language services blanket purchase agreement. We made minor editorial and formatting changes and moved information explaining that an individual under the age of 18 cannot serve as an interpreter to HALLEX I-2-1-70.

HALLEX I-2-6-10 C – We moved the information previously in the subsection to subsection D and changed the title to “Verbatim Interpretation.” We incorporated information previously in subsection B.

HALLEX I-2-6-10 D – We added new subsection D titled “Difficulties with Interpretation” and incorporated information previously in subsection C. We made minor editorial and formatting changes.

Date: November 14, 2014