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The Redwood City Council on Monday passed a resolution to introduce bilingual pay for the police chief, fire chief and police captains, effective March 10.
“Retention is a lot easier, a lot inexpensive, than trying to recruit and hire new employees,” said Council Member Jeff Gee. “So being competitive in the marketplace amongst peer agencies is very, very important, because what I see going on is people are just poaching from one agency to another.”
According to the staff report, this initiative is part of the city’s attempt to support and retain its workforce. The resolution passed with a 6-0-1 vote, with Council Member Marcella Padilla absent.
The report further states that employees who regularly use Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, or American Sign Language in their roles will qualify for additional pay based on their language proficiency. Those with proficient bilingual skills are eligible for a 2.5% pay increase, while employees with advanced bilingual skills — those who are more fluent and can manage more complex communication — can earn a 5% pay increase. Employees proficient in more than one of the listed languages may receive up to 7.5% extra pay. These pay increases will be calculated from the top step base pay of a police officer, which is $14,127 monthly.
Staff members who receive the advanced bilingual pay will be asked to translate for the city and act as spokespersons during media interviews whenever bilingual communication is needed. Law enforcement roles will also be required to assist in investigations that require specific bilingual skills.
To qualify for the pay, employees must receive the city manager’s approval beforehand, pass a language proficiency test and may need to retest every three years.
