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Interpreters for Performance Reviews and Disciplinary Meetings
A review, an improvement plan or a final warning only does its job if the employee understands what is expected and what happens if it is not met. Here is what federal rules and guidance say about language in discipline, what these meetings ask of an interpreter, and how to book one.
Say why, in a language they understand
EEOC guidance advises recording the reasons for discipline and sharing them with the employee.
The union rep is not the interpreter
A representative at a disciplinary interview has a role of their own; the interpreter is neutral.
$80 for a review by video
Virtual $80 an hour, one-hour minimum; in person $110 with a two-hour minimum.
Who arranges the interpreter, and what federal rules say about language and discipline
The employer arranges it: the review or the warning is the employer's meeting, and the employee should not be asked to bring or pay for their own interpreter. We found no federal rule that requires a private employer to provide an interpreter for a performance review or a disciplinary meeting, and we do not claim one. What federal rules and guidance address is whether the employee was told the standard they are being held to.
The EEOC's guidance on national origin discrimination, in its promising practices on discipline, describes progressive discipline that clearly communicates conduct standards and performance expectations and gives employees a chance to improve first. Where languages other than English are spoken, it advises employers to make sure those policies are communicated effectively to all employees, and to record the business reasons for disciplinary or performance-related actions and share them with the employees affected. That is advice, not a mandate, and it describes what an interpreter at a review does.
One rule is firmer. If the discipline is for breaking a rule requiring English at certain times, the EEOC expects the employer to have told employees when English is required and what happens if they do not use it. If an employer fails to notify employees effectively and then takes adverse action for a violation, the Commission treats that as evidence of national origin discrimination (29 CFR 1606.7(c)). A rule announced only in English to employees who do not read it is hard to call effective notice.
Union workplaces: the representative and the interpreter are different people
Under NLRB v. J. Weingarten (1975), a union-represented employee who reasonably believes an investigatory interview will result in discipline may ask for a union representative to be present, and the employer violates the National Labor Relations Act if it denies the request and compels the employee to go on alone. The right arises only when the employee asks, and the Court drew the line at run-of-the-mill shop-floor conversations such as instructions, training or needed corrections of work technique. A routine annual review usually sits on the other side of that line from an interview about an incident; whether a particular meeting qualifies is a question for counsel, not for us.
What matters here is that the representative is not the interpreter. A steward who speaks the employee's language may be the obvious choice to "help with the language", but their job in that room is to assist the employee, and they cannot render every word neutrally while doing it. If both are needed, book both, and tell the interpreter the representative will be present.
What a review or a warning asks of the interpreter
These meetings are consecutive and short on time: the manager says a few sentences, the interpreter renders them, the employee answers. The vocabulary is the company's rating scale and HR's terms — meets expectations, needs improvement, performance improvement plan, final written warning, attendance points — and the employee may have worked under a system where none of these exist. The interpreter renders the rating as the manager states it; if "needs improvement" means the next step is termination at this company, the manager has to say so, and the interpreter will render that too. What the interpreter will not do is soften a rating, explain policy on the manager's behalf, or tell the employee what to say.
The review document itself is usually read aloud in the meeting. Rendering a written page aloud in another language is sight translation, and it goes better if the interpreter receives the document beforehand, with the goals and the dates. The employee's response — disagreement included — is rendered in full, because it is part of the record of the meeting.
Improvement plans: the targets have to be understood
- Interpret each goal separately, with its measure and its date, and ask the employee to say back in their own words what is expected. A nod is not confirmation.
- Book the check-ins too. A 30-, 60- or 90-day plan has meetings along the way. The same interpreter for every check-in keeps the wording of the goals the same.
- Say what happens at the end — what success looks like and what failure leads to — in the meeting, through the interpreter, not only in the document.
- Give the plan in writing in their language if the employee reads it. That is written translation, a separate service; it is what they will look at in week three.
Signatures, rebuttals and terminations
Many acknowledgment forms say that signing means the employee received the document, not that they agree with it. If yours does, make sure that sentence is interpreted, because employees often refuse to sign what they take to be an admission. If the employee wants to write a rebuttal, let them write it in their own language and have it translated for the file; a rebuttal forced into English is rarely what the employee meant to say.
A termination meeting is brief and scripted: the decision, the effective date, final pay, benefits continuation, return of company property and who to contact. Each point goes through the interpreter in turn, and the interpreter stays until the employee's questions have been answered. If the meeting is by video, put the interpreter on the same call; handing the employee a phone number to call afterward leaves them alone with the hardest part.
Booking reviews and disciplinary meetings
One review by video or phone is $80 for the hour. Six 30-minute reviews in person in one morning, 9 to 12, are three hours: $330, plus travel at $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location, confirmed before you book. A 90-day improvement plan with a kickoff and three monthly check-ins by video is four meetings at $80 each, $320. A single in-person termination meeting carries the two-hour minimum, $220. Rates are per interpreter per hour from the scheduled start.
Send with the request the review or the warning, the plan with its goals and dates, the company's rating scale, who will attend (including a union representative or counsel), and whether the meeting is in person or by video. The interpreter does not need the history of the matter beyond what will be said in the room.
By video, by phone or in person
Virtual interpreting runs on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, or over the telephone. It is quicker to arrange, costs less and carries no travel charge, and it suits appointments, calls and most meetings.
In person is what venues with their own rules tend to expect, and the right choice when documents are being signed or several people are speaking at once. Tell us the platform, or the city and the venue, when you send the request.
Languages
The standard-availability languages are: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Polish, Italian, German, Japanese, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Somali and Nepali. Every other language we offer carries the 25–30% limited-availability rate. If a language is not on that list it is not because we cannot do it — it is because the pool of qualified interpreters in the United States is small enough that we will not promise a date without checking.
Each language has its own page on what to watch for — dialects, names, dates, who the speakers usually are: see interpreters by language.
What it costs
Rates are per interpreter, per hour, and billed from the scheduled start time rather than from when everyone actually arrives.
- Virtual — $80 per hour, one-hour minimum. Zoom, Google Meet, Teams or telephone.
- In person — $110 per hour, two-hour minimum.
- Limited-availability languages — add 25–30%. Which languages those are is listed below rather than left vague.
- Travel for in-person work — $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location.
How the travel charge works out
Travel is charged at $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location, which means you can work it out rather than wait for a quote: a 20-mile round trip is $14, a 60-mile round trip is $42, a 150-mile round trip is $105. There is no separate call-out fee on top.
We will not pretend to know in advance where the interpreter will be coming from — that depends on the language, the date and the venue. What we do is confirm the interpreter and the exact travel figure before you book, so it is never a surprise on the invoice. Virtual assignments carry no travel charge at all, which is one reason most of what we do is virtual.
How booking an interpreter works
- You send the request with the form below: the language, the setting, the format, the date and how long it should last.
- We confirm before you commit: the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one. We reply the same business day, and no payment is taken at this stage.
- You confirm, and the interpreter is booked for your date.
What to have ready
The more of this comes in the first message, the fewer exchanges before you have a price:
- The language, the date, the start time and how long it should run.
- Virtual or in person: the platform, or the city and the venue.
- The setting and the subject matter.
- How many people need interpreting for.
- Any credential the venue requires of the interpreter.
Request an interpreter
Tell us the date, the language and the setting and we will come back with the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one — before you commit to anything.
Thank you — we have your request
We will reply the same business day with the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one, before you commit to anything.
Sources
What this page says about the rules was checked against these official sources on October 28, 2026. Rules change; the source is always the authority.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Enforcement Guidance on National Origin Discrimination, Promising Practices: discipline, demotion and discharge (November 18, 2016)
- 29 CFR 1606.7 — EEOC Guidelines on Discrimination Because of National Origin: speak-English-only rules (eCFR)
- NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc., 420 U.S. 251 (1975) — U.S. Reports (Library of Congress)
Frequently asked questions
Do we have to provide an interpreter for an employee's performance review?
We found no federal rule that requires one. The EEOC advises employers, where other languages are spoken, to communicate conduct standards and performance expectations effectively and to share the reasons for disciplinary actions with the employee (EEOC promising practices). A warning the employee did not understand does neither.
Can we discipline an employee for not speaking English at work?
Only under a rule that is justified by business necessity for the times it applies, and that employees were effectively told about. The EEOC presumes a rule requiring English at all times violates Title VII, and treats discipline under a rule employees were not effectively told about as evidence of discrimination (29 CFR 1606.7).
Can the union steward interpret for the employee?
A steward present under Weingarten is there to assist the employee, not to render every word neutrally. If the employee needs an interpreter and a representative, book both.
Should the employee sign a warning written in English?
Have the interpreter read the whole document aloud in the employee's language first, including what the signature means, and note on the form that it was interpreted. A written translation for the employee to keep is a separate service.
How much does an interpreted review cost?
By video or phone, $80 an hour with a one-hour minimum. In person, $110 an hour with a two-hour minimum plus travel at $0.70 per mile, so several reviews in one visit cost less per review.
Is the price per person or per interpreter?
Per interpreter, per hour, billed from the scheduled start time. One interpreter covers a meeting; a full-day hearing may need two working in relay.
How is travel charged?
$0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location — a 20-mile round trip is $14. We confirm the exact figure before you book, and virtual assignments carry none.
Need an interpreter?
Tell us the date, the language and the setting and we will confirm the interpreter and the exact price.