USDA 

iiiiiii United States Department of Agriculture

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY 

POLICY STATEMENT 

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is committed to ensuring that equal access to 

services, programs, and activities is provided to Limited English Proficient (LEP) persons. LEP 

persons are individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and/or who have a 

limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English. This policy pertains to the language 

needs of FSIS’ LEP customers; it does not apply to FSIS employees who, in order to perform 

their duties, must be fluent in the English language. 

FSIS will take reasonable steps to ensure that LEP persons have meaningful access and an equal 

opportunity to participate in its services, activities, programs and other benefits. A four-factor 

analysis is used to determine steps needed to communicate effectively with LEP persons. Using 

the four-factor analysis, the Agency considers: 

1. The number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served or likely to be 

encountered by the program or recipient; 

2. The frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with the program; 

3. The nature and importance of the program, activity, or service provided by the 

program to people's lives; and 

4. The resources available to the program/recipient and costs. 

The responsibility to reduce language barriers encompasses the Agency’s obligation to both 

translate vital documents and provide oral interpretation of critical information. FSIS will 

provide written translation services for vital documents used in order to carry out its meat, 

poultry, and egg inspection programs. Vital documents are written material that contains 

information that is critical for accessing a program or activity or that is required by law, such as 

consent forms, applications, and notices of rights. Oral interpretation services will also be 

provided in order to convey information necessary to carry out meat, poultry, and egg inspection 

programs within FSIS. 

Resources such a contractual providers of language services, other Federal agencies, and 

employees who are fluent in a particular language will be utilized to translate and interpret 

critical information. The Agency will provide these services at no cost to the customer, in an 

accurate and timely manner. 

To ensure that the FSIS workforce fully understands the Agency’s LEP policy, an LEP plan has 

been developed; in addition, training and other guidance is available at: 

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/employees/civil-rights. 

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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FSIS employees should be aware that the program discrimination complaint process is available 

to customers. Customers or prospective customers who believe that they have been subjected to 

discrimination can initiate a program discrimination complaint by completing the United States 

Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Program Discrimination Complaint Form. Information 

about what to include in a Program Discrimination Complaint, may be found at 

https://www.usda.gov/oascr/filing-program-discrimination-complaint-usda-customer, Filing a 

Program Discrimination Complaint as a USDA Customer. Program discrimination complaints 

may be sent by mail, fax or email to the following: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OASCR) 

Director, Center for Civil Rights Enforcement 

1400 Independence Avenue, SW 

Washington, DC 20250-9410 

Fax: (202) 690-7442 Email: Program.Intake@usda.gov 

Information about the discrimination complaint process can also be obtained by contacting 

OASCR, Information Research Service, on 1 (866) 632-9992 (toll free) or via email at: CRINFO@usda.gov. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech disabilities, may 

contact OASCR through the Federal Relay Service at 1 (800) 877-8339 or 1 (800) 845-6136 

(Spanish). 

Questions regarding this policy should be directed to: USDA, FSIS, Civil Rights Staff (CRS), 

5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Room 1-2165, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, 1 (800) 269-6912 (toll free) 

or (301) 504-7755 (Voice and TDD), or link to the CRS web page at: 

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/employees/civil-rights or via email at: AskCRD@usda.gov. 

Paul Kiecker 

Administrator 

Terri Nintemann 

Assistant Administrator 

This Policy should be posted in conspicuous locations throughout the workplace.