Posted on 01/23/2009 6:43:06 AM PST by Graybeard58
State requires all to pass test in English
WATERBURY — The city has agreed to appoint a Latino barber or salon owner to the advisory board that is helping to implement a new public health inspection process and translate all educational materials into Spanish.
These efforts will help an estimated 100 hairdressers and barbers in Waterbury who do not speak English, but the city does not have the authority to fix their biggest problem — Connecticut requires people who cut hair for a living to speak English.
The state Department of Public Health doesn't put it that way, but it requires barbers and hairdressers to pass a state licensing examination in English or pass a test that demonstrates English proficiency, among other professional requirements.
Anyone who cuts hair for a living who does not have that state license is violating the state public health code. Any local barbershop or salon that employs a person who does not have a valid state practitioner's license cannot get a city public health permit.
That is why the city's rollout of its new public health permitting process tripped alarm bells for Latino barbershops and hair salons, said Juan Rodriguez Torrent, the leader of the Latino American Chamber of Commerce.
"They run clean shops, so inspections are OK, but they have licenses from other places," Torrent said. "Some have cut hair for years, but their exams were in Spanish, and their English, not so good. If they are shut down, how will their families eat?"
So a group of Latino barbers and hairdressers and local and state lawmakers met Thursday to hatch a strategy to eliminate the English-only exam requirement.
State Rep. David Aldarondo, D-75th District, will lead the campaign.
They have until August. That is when the city will start local public health inspections of barbershops and salons. The health inspectors are required to notify the state of any state licensure violations they observe during their inspections.
Torrent has asked the city to give him time to get Latino barbers and hairdressers licensed — getting proof of official test results from the Dominican Republican can take six months alone, he said — before shutting anyone down.
Steve Gambini, an aide to Mayor Michael J. Jarjura, said the city won't ignore state law, but will lobby hard on behalf of a change to state law. The city does not want to turn its inspectors into "agents of doom," he said, especially to a traditionally isolated community.
*smiles*
The whole USA needs to adopt this policy.....ya think?
Wonder how’d they feel about making special accommodations for me, who wants to do something not inherently illegal: Smoke in my own barber shop?
Be advised that typical European hair is a little bit finer than typical darker skinned people’s hair, so needs to be treated a little differently by a barber. This matters when you are getting your hair cut by a barber who was trained on darker skinned people’s hair. They are used to a somewhat “harder” cut, so tend to over trim.
Many black people have a real fight with their hair. This is a bad problem with black men’s facial hair, especially. Serious facial scarification from “Pseudofolliculitis Barbae” is pretty widespread in the US military, and pretty graphic at times.
If they can’t speak English at all it is pretty safe to assume they are not citizens.
Hopefully they all have their work visas proudly displayed.
Seems to be a pretty good incentive to learn English. The Balkanization of America continues.
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