Interpreter FAQ
Click on Freelance Interpreter Registration on the Partners In Communication LLC homepage then submit your completed registration form. Once your registration is received, someone will then be in touch. Note: proof of liability insurance is required.
Freelance interpreters working with Partners In Communication, LLC must possess national certification (RID, NAD, NIC or for K-12 work EIPA, levels 4-5). Additionally, proof of liability insurance and a degree in higher education, in any field of focus, is preferred but not required. We value integrity, ethical decision-making, and a supportive teaming approach.
Contact Partners In Communication, LLC with your desire to work. Upon successful completion of our paperwork and interview process we will grant you access to our online scheduling system, from which we send queries for work. Within the system you can keep your availability up to date, submit your invoices and view your schedule on line. Please note: If a customer specifically requests you by name we will honor that request by checking with you before offering the assignment to another interpreter.
Partners In Communication LLC is not an employer of interpreters but rather we coordinate and sub-contract interpreters. Freelance interpreters negotiate their own rates with us individually. We include a premium of two hours for each job along with a 48-hour cancellation policy. Additionally, interpreters can be reimbursed at per mile at the current IRS rate if they so choose. We also reimburse for parking and public transportation.
Each interpreter sets his/her own rates. Some things to keep in mind that might help when determining your own rate:
- Years of Experience
- Certifications Held
- Degrees Held
- Determining what is competitive
Travel charges can be reported by logging on to Gridcheck.com, sending an email to partners@partnersincommunicationllc.com, or placing a call to 800-975-8150. NOTE: If you have an ongoing assignment or a job for which you already know the mileage or transit fees, those numbers can be entered on the Travel Charges tab at any time. You don’t have to wait until invoicing, but rather can enter them any time you are on the Travel Charges screen.
Interpreters must report travel charges by the end of the day on the Saturday of the week that the job occurred so that those travel charges can be recorded for customer invoicing purposes (customer invoicing tends to be done first thing on Sunday mornings). Interpreters are not eligible to bill for travel charges once the Partners invoice has been submitted to the customer.
Invoices are submitted via Gridcheck by using your confidential login.
Invoices are paid Net-30 days. Please submit your invoices no more than once a week for ease of processing on our end. Also, all jobs should be invoiced within the calendar year of the job. Invoices are paid each Friday; submitting your invoice for the week each Friday will net you payment weekly after you have passed 30 days net since your initial submission.
Teams are provided for most assignments lasting longer than 1.5 hours. Depending on the nature/complexity of the assignment, a team person may also be provided for shorter assignments.
If you are at an assignment and the client does not show, please wait for 25 – 30 minutes then contact our office. We will likely ask you to check with the requester or point of contact for the assignment, letting them know the client has not yet arrived and asking whether they would like you to continue waiting or are free to leave. In some instances, like a Dr. appointment, they will not have the flexibility in their day’s schedule to see the client after a certain point and they may tell you to go ahead and leave. In other situations they may feel that there is still a chance the client will arrive or they want to ‘get what they are paying for’ and will ask you to stay for the full time you are booked. Either way, so that we can be prepared should anyone ask us about the situation, please communicate what happened with our office.
If you are scheduled to be at a teamed assignment and your team does not show up please contact Partners In Communication LLC immediately. Please call (800-975-8150) or email (partners@partnersincommunicationllc.com) us as soon as you can. Do not interpret without first contacting us. Protecting your health is of the utmost importance to us. We must decide together how to proceed.
Details on one job can have an impact on future assignments. If any of the details of the job change substantially we want to know so we can make the correction in the system.
In a continuous effort to provide excellent customer service to all with whom we work, we decided to effect a formal policy on late arrivals/leaving jobs early/jobs running long. Each of these instances affect billing from us to the customer and invoicing from you to us. Please see below for our policy:
- Call the office any time you are running late for an assignment or unexpectedly need to leave early
- If you are released early from the job please call the office to let us know
- Call the office once it appears as though a job will run long; we may need to get authorization prior to you staying beyond the initially requested time
- If you are 10 or more minutes late to an assignment, we will reduce what we bill the customer in 15 minute increments. This means that the time for which you will be able to invoice will be reduced accordingly. Example: If you are 10 minutes late we will deduct .25 from billing. If you are 25 minutes late we will deduct .50 from billing.
- If you need to leave an assignment early we will adjust billing/invoicing in the same manner listed above.
Our customers have paid for a block of time and get uncomfortable when the interpreter is not there for the requested time. We understand that sometimes life happens; please keep in touch with us when it does so we can be fair to those we serve.
We appreciate your support and welcome any feedback/dialogue you may wish to add.