Work Hours

Nationally certified CLTs are required to submit proof of at least five (5) hours of transliteration work each year. The work hours requirement is intended to ensure that TSC holders engage in ongoing (i.e., at least annual) provision of cued language transliteration services to retain CLT skills including expressive and receptive fluency. The criterion of five (5) work hours yearly was determined to be the minimum requirement to ensure skills maintenance. Participants in the Certification Maintenance Program are required to submit verification each year by June 30th. 

Acceptable Type of Transliteration Work

A variety of professional activities may be used to satisfy the five (5) Work Hours requirement including:

  • Full or Part-Time Employment as a CLT in any professional setting;

  • Freelance cued language transliteration work;

  • Pro bono/volunteer service provision for a deaf consumer at a public event;

  • In-person or remote cued language transliteration services; and

  • Symbolic cued language transliteration (see below).

The total of five (5) work hours may be completed in any combination of the activities above. In cases when the total of five (5) hours is combined from multiple sources, verification is required for each.  

In some cases, cued language transliteration services are offered without requests from deaf, cueing consumers. Examples include:

  • The provision of interpretation or transliteration at houses of worship;

  • Government meetings and events open to the public;

  • Televised and streamed events with a CLT shown as picture-in-picture.

Any of these activities would be acceptable to be applied toward the work hours requirement. 

Work hours submitted to satisfy the annual requirement must be completed/fulfilled. Scheduled cued language transliteration assignments that are cancelled will not be accepted.

Submission of more than the minimum required hours does not satisfy future requirements. Work hours do not rollover to the next CMP year.

Provision of cued language transliteration for family members will not be accepted.

Provision of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting is not accepted to satisfy this requirement. 

Loss of full-time employment due does not exempt anyone from this requirement. If you believe you may not be able to fulfill this requirement for any reason, please contact our office early.

Acceptable Verification

Acceptable documentation includes: paystubs or an official letter from employers.

Pay stubs must clearly specify three essential pieces of information:

  • All five work hours were delivered between the dates of July 1st of the previous year to the June 30th deadline;

  • The service must be specified as cued language transliteration; and the number of hours listed.

Documentation that lacks any of this information will not be accepted as valid.   

A paystub or letter from a supervisor or employer (with their contact information) may serve as sufficient documentation provided the information above is clearly specified.

Self-generated invoices will not serve as acceptable documentation. 

Unfulfilled Work Hours Requirement

In the event that a TSC holder is unable to submit notification of five (5) work hours by June 30th, they will be notified and given until July 31st to satisfy the requirement.

Cued language transliterator work hours completed and reported during this grace period will be accepted to satisfy the annual requirement. However, those same cued language transliteration work hours may not be applied to more than one CMP year.

If for any reason, a TSC holder is unable to submit verification of five (5) hours of cued language transliteration work by the extended July 31st deadline, the individual has two options: 1) Use the Once-in-a-Lifetime Extension by submitting the required extension request paperwork; or 2) register for the CAECS-E by July 31st of that year.

A TSC card will not be issued until this annual work hours requirement has been met. This may result in a lapse of certification status until the requirement has been satisfied. 

If five work hours are not received and registration for the CAECS-E is not received by July31st, the TSC holders’s certification status will expire. At that point, the only way to regain national certification will be by taking and successfully passing the CLTNCE.

For those who opt to take the CAECS-E instead of verifying work hours or using the Once-in-a-Lifetime Extension, a score in the Acceptable range must be earned by June 30th of the following year o certification will lapse.

  • No. You must submit proof of at least 5 hours of transliteration work each year in a cycle totaling twenty hours. The requirement is meant to serve as a minimum and is spread out to ensure that CLTs maintain skills and remain active in the field.

  • No. Please submit one of the valid forms of verification listed above.

  • No. Informal cueing/transliteration does not count toward the requirement of providing professional cued language transliteration services.

  • The previous policy made no allowance for CLTs who were not able to acquire work hours. This new policy provides multiple ways to satisfy this CMP requirements. This is simply an option to maintain your certification. There are several ways to satisfy this requirement if you do not wish to re-take the CAECS-E. However, the option is there if you need it.

  • Absolutely. We do not need to see information about pay rate, sick leave, etc.