Audit Report on the Compliance of the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner with Executive Order 120 Regarding Limited English Proficiency

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This audit examined whether the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) complied with Executive Order 120 (EO 120), which requires that City agencies that provide direct services to the public create a language access implementation plan in order to ensure meaningful language access to their services. OCME is responsible for, among other things, investigating cases of persons who die in New York City from criminal violence, by accident, by suicide, suddenly when in apparent health, when unattended by a physician, in a correctional facility, or in any suspicious or unusual manner. OCME also approves all applications made by a funeral director or other appropriate person pursuant to law for a permit to cremate the body of a person.

Local Law 73 was enacted in 2003 for the purpose of enhancing the ability of City residents with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) to interact with City government and more specifically to obtain needed social services. The law applies to four social service agencies: the Human Resources Administration; the Department of Homeless Services; the Administration for Children’s Services; and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. It requires that free language assistance services be provided for clients at job centers and food stamp offices, and when they seek to obtain other services from any of those four City agencies.

In July 2008, Mayor Bloomberg signed EO 120, which requires all City agencies to provide opportunities for limited English speakers to communicate with City agencies and receive public services. EO 120 specifically requires City agencies providing direct public services to ensure meaningful access to those services to LEP persons. To accomplish this, EO 120 requires these agencies to develop and implement agency-specific language assistance plans for LEP persons.

Results

The audit found that OCME generally complied with EO 120 and that it has made substantial progress in providing meaningful language access to the agency’s services for LEP customers. However, OCME had a Language Access Policy and Implementation Plan that had not been updated since 2008.

The audit recommended that OCME update its Language Access Policy and Implementation Plan to ensure that it adequately meets the language needs of the communities it serves by taking advantage of the studies available since the plan was implemented in 2008. In addition, OCME should post its updated Language Access Policy and Implementation Plan and all subsequent updated plans on its website.

In their response, OCME agreed with the report and stated that “In accordance with the audit report’s sole recommendation that OCME update its Language Access Policy and Implementation Plan and post the updated plan to our website, we completed this step on Wednesday June 17, 2015.”

Audit Follow-up

Audit team found that the recommendation had been implemented when they received the response on June 19, 2015.