Legal Aid at Work

THIS WEDNESDAY! Join us as we mark Legal Aid at Work's 108th year of supporting Justice on the Job! We’ll be awarding Marlene Sanchez with the Mathew O. Tobriner Public Service Award. The Award will be presented by Lateefah Simon, a nationally recognized advocate for civil rights and racial justice. She was the former President of the Akonadi Foundation and currently serves as President for the Meadow Fund. https://lnkd.in/grvMwJ-9

Join us next Wednesday, June 26, as we mark Legal Aid at Work's 108th year of supporting Justice on the Job! We’ll be awarding Marlene Sanchez with the Mathew O. Tobriner Public Service Award. Marlene Sanchez is a proud San Francisco Native, Chicana, movement leader, organizer, and formerly incarcerated woman. Her work at the Young Women’s Freedom Center, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), Alliance for Girls, All of Us or None (AOUON), and Ella Baker Center for Human Rights has empowered and supported and inspired countless numbers of marginalized people and their communities. https://lnkd.in/grvMwJ-9

Great news! The US District Court denied the Department of Defense’s motion to dismiss our class action lawsuit seeking justice for LGBTQ+ veterans. This ruling is an important step forward in rectifying the DOD’s discriminatory policies against LGBTQ+ veterans. We will keep pushing for LGBTQ+ veterans to receive the honor they deserve after serving our country with dignity and integrity. https://lnkd.in/gqSXYGVT

Great news! The CA Supreme Court ruled that the Taxpayer Deception Act may not be placed on the November ballot because it would impose such sweeping changes to our system of government that it could only be enacted through a revision to our State Constitution, not by a ballot initiative. Learn more: https://loom.ly/y1zH_iA

LAAW's Alexx Campbell speaks on the greater need for enforcing worker protections, especially when workers are experiencing wage theft, in a recent segment with Telemundo Noticias. https://loom.ly/1ap7gG0

Recently, LAAW's Kim Ouillette and other members of the Wage Protection Program joined community-based organizations and partners at the State Labor Commissioner's office to discuss enforcement strategies in the Restaurant sector. We're excited to continue this work with the California Strategic Enforcement Partnership!

Yesterday, LAAW's Stacy Villalobos argued before the California Supreme Court in Bailey v. San Francisco District Attorney's Office, et al., representing a group of nonprofit workers’ and civil rights organizations as amici curiae. LAAW asked the California Supreme Court to reverse the ruling from the Court of Appeal below and rule that a coworker’s single utterance of the N-word, under a totality of the circumstances, can create a hostile work environment. The Plaintiff, Twanda Bailey, was called an anti-Black slur by her co-worker. Read more from Bloomberg: https://loom.ly/12CD3ZY

Our client Luz Perez wrote this op-ed on Capitol Weekly about why workers need the power to seek justice in the workplace through the Private Attorneys General Act. Workers should be able to hold their employers accountable through legal representation. https://lnkd.in/gNXDUseE

We’re thrilled that Athena will join LAAW later this year! Athena will help prevent immigration-related retaliation against workers in Napa and Sonoma counties—areas with many undocumented workers but a surprising lack of employment-related legal services. We are so grateful to Equal Justice Works and Fenwick & West for supporting this vital work!

LAAW, Equal Justice Center, pro bono counsel from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, and ACLU of Oklahoma won $730,000 for 23 Filipinos who were lured to rural Oklahoma with false promises of good jobs at a hotel and restaurant, and then forced to work in far worse conditions. Read more about our hard-fought win in this case at Reuters: https://loom.ly/HbLMYlM