Who pays for the interpreting services?
The ADA states that all public and private agencies that provide services to the general public, and all employers with 15 or more employees, must be accessible. This means that, if your agency, service, or business is accessible to people without disabilities, it must be accessible to people with disabilities. Additionally, companies with 15 or more employees must follow fair hiring and employment practices when considering candidates with disabilities. (However, the ADA is superseded in Washington State by RCW , which covers employers with 8 or more employees.) Therefore, it is the agency, service, or business which is responsible for payment for interpreting services. Interpreting services should be budgeted as part of annual planning for accessibility services. It is true that, on a per-encounter basis, you may pay more for interpreting services than you generate in revenue for your business. However, if you consider the cost over the course of a year as an overhead cost of doing b
