For agencies🏢 Agency Management

Set an interpreter's employment type and pay rates

Choose 1099 contractor or W-2 employee per interpreter and set their base, travel, and differential rates.

Pay terms are set per relationship, so the same interpreter can be a contractor at one agency and an employee at another. Proposing rates needs Billing access at the Manage level.

Agencies: Set an interpreter's pay: 1099 or W-2

0:41

Employment type and rates, per person. · Open in a new tab

Agencies: Propose a new rate to an interpreter

1:33

Propose a rate, see it waiting, or withdraw it. · Open in a new tab

Agencies: Review an interpreter's rate proposal

1:10

Approve it or turn it down in a few clicks. · Open in a new tab

Step by step

  1. 1On the Team Roster tab, click "Manage" on an interpreter's row to open their detail slide-over.
  2. 2Find the "Employment & Rates" section. Team members with Billing access can see it, and only Billing: Manage can fill it in.
  3. 3Set the Employment type (Contractor or Employee).
  4. 4Under "Rates by language" you see one row for each language: their own hourly rate, or "No rate yet (house $X)" in amber when their jobs in that language pay your house rate. Click "Edit" on a row to change that language only, or pick "+ Add a language…" for a language they do not have yet. Each row also holds an optional Written rate and Written minimum for translation work.
  5. 5Click "Propose Spanish rate" (the button names the language you are editing). For a placeholder who has not joined yet the button reads "Save" instead, and the rate applies at once.
  6. 6Under "Other pay settings", set the travel time rate, minimum billing duration and cancellation policy window, then click "Save pay settings".
  7. 7If your agency reimburses mileage, you can also set a Mileage rate for an interpreter paid a different rate per mile than the rest of your team. Leave it blank to use your agency rate from Settings → Billing. The travel time and mileage rates apply as soon as you save; the interpreter doesn't need to accept them.
  8. 8For W-2 office staff who also interpret, tick "Employee (W-2)" in their slide-over, set an "Interpreting rate" next to their "Hourly rate", and click "Save employment". A wage applies straight away, with no proposal, and needs Settings access at the Manage level. Leave the interpreting rate blank if they are paid one rate for everything.
  9. 9For W-2 employees, also set overtime thresholds and multipliers, which appear only for the employee type.
  10. 10Evening, weekend and holiday premiums are not set per interpreter. Set them once per language in Settings, Billing & Subscription, Rate Differentials, and they apply on top of this base rate.
  11. 11When a proposal goes out, the slide-over shows "Rate proposal sent. Awaiting interpreter approval." and the interpreter is notified. The language row shows "Proposed $X/hr, waiting on them", and jobs keep paying the rate on file until they accept. If you only changed the travel time or mileage rate, it just says "Saved.", because those apply straight away.
  12. 12Back on the Team Roster, the interpreter's row shows a "Proposal sent" tag until they answer.
  13. 13While a proposal is waiting, the slide-over says "A rate proposal is awaiting interpreter approval." To take it back, click "Withdraw proposal" on that notice. Saving new rates instead replaces the waiting proposal.
  14. 14When an interpreter proposes rates to you, their row shows a "Review rates" tag. Open the notification, click their name in the amber strip above your Team Roster, or click "Manage" on their row, to see the proposal, including the language it is for, and click "Approve" or "Reject".

Tips

  • Pay rates are Billing information. Team members without Billing access cannot see them, and Billing: View can see them but not change them. This is enforced in the data rules as well as on screen.
  • PTO balances are managed separately in the person's Paid time off section, where you can adjust a balance with a reason; every change is recorded in a ledger (see the leave balances article).
  • Rate negotiation is two-way: you can propose rates to the interpreter and they can propose rates back to you for approval.
  • Rates are always per language. A rate saved for American Sign Language does nothing for a Spanish job: that job pays your house Spanish rate until the person has a Spanish rate of their own. Check the rows after you add someone who works in more than one language.
  • For a W-2 employee the language rows read "Wage set in Employment", because their hourly pay is their wage, not a language rate.
  • If the interpreter accepts or declines your proposal while you have their slide-over open, proposing again from that open slide-over is refused. The message says their rates changed since you opened this and "Nothing was saved.", and the current rates show instead. Check them and propose again only if you still want a change.
  • When someone has two rates, nobody chooses between them at the time clock. Which hours were interpreting is worked out from what dispatch has them assigned to, so the split follows the schedule rather than a punch.
  • Wages live on their own record behind Billing access, so a team member with People access can see who is W-2 and who is a contractor without seeing what anyone is paid.

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