The Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center

Judge Denies Federal Motion to Dismiss in Defense of Marriage Act Case

On January 26, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected the federal government’s request to dismiss the constitutional claims of gay and lesbian state workers who, together with their registered domestic partners, are excluded from equal access to California’s Long-Term Care Program.

Last year the court rejected a similar motion to dismiss the claims of gay and lesbian state workers who were married in 2008 following the California Supreme Court’s ruling that the state constitution mandated marriage equality and before the enactment of Proposition 8. Today’s order considered for the first time the claims of couples who are in registered domestic partnerships with the state of California, but who did not marry in 2008. Read more

Motion for Summary Judgment Filed in Defense of Marriage Act Case

Lawyers for Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center and Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason LLP have filed a motion for summary judgment against the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service and the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) on behalf of gay and lesbian state workers, together with their spouses and registered domestic partners, who are denied equal access to California’s long-term care insurance program for public employees and their families. Read more

January is National Stalking Awareness Month

Every year, 3.4 million people over age 18 are stalked in the United States.

Stalking often occurs at work, and all too often jeopardizes victims’ employment. One in eight employed stalking victims has missed work because they feared for their safety or needed to seek a restraining order or testify in court.

Project SURVIVE helps ensure that victims of stalking, domestic violence or sexual assault can keep their jobs while seeking safety or medical or legal help.

For more information, call our toll-free SURVIVE helpline at (888) 864-8335. Or see our fact sheets, videos, and other resources.

NLRB Rules that Employees are Entitled to Bring Employment-related Claims as Class or Collective Actions, in Court or Arbitration Proceedings

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—the federal decision-making body that oversees relations between labor unions and private employers—recently declared that employees must be allowed to pursue their workplace grievances through collective or class-wide actions, whether it be through litigation or arbitration. Read more

Free Workers’ Compensation Clinic in English and Spanish

On January 31, the Workers’ Rights Disability Law Clinic will host a free Workers’ Compensation clinic. Volunteer Workers’ Comp attorneys from Worksafe will provide free counseling on Workers’ Comp issues. Spanish-speaking attorneys will be available.

The clinic is by appointment only; please call 415-864-8848.

Women’s Rights Groups Ask Department of Education for a Title IX Review of Penn State

Following the recent allegations of sexual abuse at Penn State University, ten of the nation’s leading civil rights and women’s rights advocacy organizations have formally asked the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to undertake a Title IX compliance review of how the university handles allegations of sexual harassment, especially against athletes. The letter was signed by the Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center along with representatives of Women’s Law Project, California Women’s Law Center, Legal Voice, Equal Rights Advocates, Equity Legal, National Women’s Law Center, Women’s Sports Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, and Southwest Women’s Law Center. See the full request letter

Settlement Reached in Landmark Civil Rights Case

Immigrant Workers Fired on Basis of Unnecessary English Test in 1998

Twenty-three immigrant women workers who challenged English proficiency tests announced a settlement in their landmark federal civil rights case against a major multinational corporation. In the course of two trips to the U.S. Supreme Court, Rivera v. Nibco, Inc. created important national legal precedents and strengthened the rights of immigrant workers to bring claims of workplace abuse against their employers. Read more

Professor Pam Karlan to serve as Special Counsel to Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center

The Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center is very pleased to announce that Professor Pam Karlan, one of the nation’s preeminent constitutional law experts, will serve as Special Counsel to the organization. Read more

LAS–ELC Launches New Project: Fair Play for Girls in Sports

In order to promote the health, well-being, education, and employment opportunities for low-income girls in grades K–12, the Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center has established a new project: Fair Play for Girls in Sports.

Helping to make this possible is a generous grant from John and Terry Levin and the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of California. This gift is to fund a two-year Fellowship named after John and Terry Levin. We are pleased to announce that Tamika Butler has been selected as the Fellow. Read more

California Supreme Court Grants Review of Anti-Immigrant Worker Decision

On Wednesday, November 16, 2011, the California Supreme Court agreed to review a lower-court opinion in a civil rights case that will have a broad impact on the rights of immigrant workers in California.

In its Petition for Review to the California Supreme Court, the LAS–ELC argued that the lower court had ignored well-established laws ensuring that all workers are fully protected by California’s labor and employment laws but also U.S. Supreme Court precedent preventing employers from evading responsibility for violating their workers’ rights simply because they may find evidence of unrelated employee wrongdoing. All seven California Supreme Court justices voted in favor of reviewing the case. Read more

A Video Introduction to the Workers’ Rights Disability Law Clinic

Watch a video report from The Recorder on the newly launched Workers’ Rights Disability Law Clinic, at the Ed Roberts Clinic in Berkeley. The new Clinic is a project of the Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and is now providing a full array of free counseling, advice, support, referral and employment-related legal services to workers and job seekers with disabilities every Tuesday night.
Watch the video