Letter Report on the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s Licensing and Oversight of Sightseeing Bus Operators and Guides

Executive Summary

This Final Letter Report concerns the New York City Comptroller’s audit of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (DOHMH’s) compliance with Local Law 65 of 2015, which governs the translation of the Business Owner’s Bill of Rights as it relates to inspections by New York City agencies. The objective of this audit was to determine whether DOHMH is complying with Local Law 65, which is intended to make City agencies’ business-inspection protocols and interactions accessible to immigrants and non-English speakers. Our audit of DOHMH is one in a series of audits we are conducting of the City’s compliance with Local Law 65.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

Our audit found that DOHMH generally complied with Local Law 65 and Local Law 30. In one respect, however, DOHMH was less than fully compliant with Local Law 30 and DOHMH’s Language Access Plan in that one of its publications, Food Service Establishment Business Owner’s Bill of Rights, was translated into 7 of the top 10 LEP languages. For full compliance, DOHMH will need to add translations of that document into three additional languages. Our findings are further detailed below.

Our review of DOHMH’s 2018 Language Access Plan, which, as required by Local Law 30 of 2017, documents DOHMH’s steps to provide services to the LEP populations it serves, found that DOHMH had made continuous efforts to provide meaningful language access during inspections for LEP customers. DOHMH adopted the Citywide standardized customer service training, and incorporated and designed a curriculum to ensure that its inspectors were able to comply with Local Law 65 and Local Law 30. We found that DOHMH has the Business Owner’s Bill of Rights prominently displayed through a PowerPoint presentation on a large screen in its office area.

The Business Owner’s Bill of Rights was fully translated into each of the 10 designated Citywide LEP languages. DOHMH’s website also provides a link to the New York City Department of Small Business Services’ website, where its Business Owner’s Bill of Rights can be viewed and downloaded in the top 10 designated Citywide languages. We reviewed the Business Owner’s Bill of Rights and found that it notifies owners of their rights as follows:

1. Courteous and professional treatment by employees
2. Inspectors who are polite, professionally dressed, and properly identified
3. Information about how long inspections will take and the cost of all related fees
4. Knowledgeable inspectors who enforce agency rules uniformly
5. Receive information about agency rules from inspectors or other employees
6. Contest a violation through a hearing, trial or other relevant process
7. Request a review of inspection results or re-inspection as soon as possible
8. Receive explanation from inspectors on violation details and instructions for viewing inspection results
9. Access information in languages other than English and request language interpretation services for inspections
10. Comment, anonymously and without fear of retribution, on the performance or conduct of [DOHMH] employees

Additionally, DOHMH provided business owners with a Food Service Establishment Business Owner’s Bill of Rights, which is specific to owners of restaurants, soup kitchens, or other food service operators. We reviewed the Food Service Establishment Business Owner’s Bill of Rights and found that it notifies food service establishment owners of their rights as follows:

1. Courteous and professional treatment by inspectors. Please treat inspectors similarly.
2. Inspectors who identify themselves and the purpose of the inspection upon arrival.
3. Information about how long the inspection will take.
4. Knowledgeable, fair and impartial inspectors who enforce agency rules uniformly.
5. Information about City food safety rules, violations and possible remedies.
6. Directions for contesting violation(s) at the OATH Health Tribunal.
7. Inspections that are as unobtrusive as possible, while still allowing the inspection to be completed.
8. Answers to reasonable questions about the inspection and instructions for viewing results. (If equipment was moved or disassembled during the inspection, the Inspector will return or reassemble it.)
9. Access to information in non-English languages. If needed, the inspector will use a language assistance program to communicate with you.
10. The chance to comment, anonymously and without fear of retribution, on inspectors’ performance or conduct.

However, DOHMH’s Food Service Establishment Business Owner’s Bill of Rights was translated into only 7 of the top 10 LEP languages. Specifically, it was translated into Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Haitian Créole, Korean, and Arabic in accordance with Local Law 65. For DOHMH to be in full compliance with Local Law 30, which was enacted after Local Law 65, DOHMH would have to translate the Food Service Establishment Business Owner’s Bill of Rights into Urdu, French, and Polish. According to DOHMH, since those three languages are not used often, the agency translates the Food Service Establishment Business Owner’s Bill of Rights to those languages only when a business owner requests such a translation.

We also found that DOHMH trains its inspectors on the agency’s policies and procedures pertaining to providing language access services to business owners during inspections. In June 2018, DOHMH updated its inspectors’ training manual to reflect the training requirements of Local Law 65 of 2015 and Local Law 30 of 2017. The training material describes DOHMH’s language access policies and procedures and includes the standardized service training curriculum that was developed by the Mayor’s Office of Operations for the Citywide Interagency Language Access Protocol. Furthermore, DOHMH informs new food service establishment business owners that it has a service that provides business owners with a consultative, educational inspection for a fee.  During such an inspection, DOHMH’s public health inspectors advise the food service establishment on identifying and resolving food safety problems, protecting customers’ health, and avoiding common violations, and they notify business owners of their ability to request inspections in languages other than English.

In addition, DOHMH provides business owners with a Language Access brochure that includes the top 10 designated Citywide languages and allows the owners to indicate a language preference other than English for agency inspections. Inspectors are also equipped with a Language ID sheet which informs LEP clients of their right to free language assistance services during agency inspections. We found that DOHMH trains its inspectors on the use of telephonic interpretation services through Language Line Services, LLC so that inspectors can communicate in languages other than English with LEP clients during agency inspections. If inspectors do not speak the language of the business owner, they can have the business owner indicate their preferred language on the “I speak” card, then call Language Line Services, LLC to have an interpreter translate the inspection process.

Audit Recommendations

We recommend that DOHMH continue to maintain its overall compliance with Local Law 65 and Local Law 30 to ensure it effectively meets the needs of residents with limited English proficiency when interacting with City inspectors. In addition, DOHMH should translate its Food Service Establishment Business Owner’s Bill of Rights into Urdu, French, and Polish to be in full compliance with Local Law 30.

Agency Response

In their response, DOHMH officials agreed with the audit’s findings and recommendations, stating, “We are pleased that your audit found that DOHMH generally complied with Local Law 65 of 2015 and Local Law 30 that was enacted in 2017. To be fully compliant Local Law 30 DOHMH is in the process of translating its Food Service Establishment Business Owner’s Bill of Rights into French, Polish and Urdu as the audit recommends.  DOHMH is committed to continue to provide the public with necessary language access to obtain City services and to have this access available during DOHMH inspections for Limited English Proficiency clients.” The full text of DOHMH’s response is included as an addendum to this report.