Members of Congress and Advocates Announce Federal Legislation Protecting Pregnant Workers from Discrimination
May 8, 2012—Today Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and 63 cosponsors, including Jackie Speier, Susan Davis, and Anna Eshoo of California, will introduce the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). This legislation would require employers to provide reasonable job modifications that would allow pregnant women to continue working and supporting their families.
“Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center is pleased to endorse the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act" said Sharon Terman, Senior Staff Attorney and Director of the Work and Family Project at Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center. "Seventy-five percent of women in the workforce will become pregnant while employed. Yet far too many women are forced out of their jobs when they need them most – when they are expecting a new child."
The proposed legislation was announced at a news conference in Washington, D.C., featuring Members of Congress and representatives from supporting organizations, including Legal Aid Staff Attorney Rachael Langston.
The full news release from the Members of Congress.
The Letter of Support, signed by more than 100 organizations across the country.
Call for Skadden Fellowship Applications
Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center is pleased to invite applications for sponsorship of a Skadden Fellow for the two-year period beginning in September 2013. The two-year fellowship offers a recent law school graduate the opportunity to obtain training in litigation as well as many other aspects of public interest practice. The Skadden Fellowship Foundation awards approximately 25 fellowships per year to graduating law students and outgoing judicial clerks. Skadden Fellows develop projects that provide legal services to persons who are poor, elderly, and/or homeless, persons with disabilities, and others who are deprived of human or civil rights.
Legal Aid seeks to sponsor a candidate to work within our Wage and Hour Enforcement Litigation Program- WageHELP. Applicants are encouraged to propose and discuss project ideas in this program area which works to ensure that all workers benefit from the protections of wage and hour law.
New Fresno Workers’ Rights Clinic
On April 18, the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center (Legal Aid) added Fresno to the list of its Workers’ Rights Clinic sites. The Fresno Workers’ Rights Clinic is a collaboration of Legal Aid, Central California Legal Services (CCLS), the Mexican Consulate, and the Fresno-based law firm of Lang, Richert & Patch. It was recently featured in a Fresno Bee article.
The Fresno Clinic is housed at CCLS and is staffed by attorneys from Legal Aid, CCLS and members of the local bar, as well as paralegals and law students. Initially operating once per month, the Clinic will provide free legal services to low-wage workers, including farm workers, in the Central Valley who face a range of workplace problems including unpaid wages and overtime, health and safety violations and discrimination.
Legal Update: Federal Judge in Gay and Lesbian State Employee Case Hears Motion for Summary Judgment
Attorneys from Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center argued cross-motions for summary judgment in Dragovich v. CalPERS on Thursday, April 26, 2012. The motions were heard by Judge Claudia Wilken, United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
The case raises constitutional claims of gay and lesbian state workers who, together with their same-sex spouses or registered domestic partners, are denied equal access to California’s Long-Term Care Program. The lawsuit challenges the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and a provision of the Internal Revenue Code that excludes gay and lesbian state employees from purchasing state-sponsored long term care benefits for their spouses or domestic partners in violation of the equal protection and due process clauses of the 5th and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution.
The Court previously rejected the federal Defendants’ motion to dismiss the claims.
Decision in Kirby v. Immoos Fire Protection, Inc.: Workers Not Subject to Attorneys Fees in Claims Alleging Meal and Rest Period Violations
On April 30, 2012, the California Supreme Court decided whether workers can recover or be subject to awards of attorneys fees when making meal and rest period claims.
The Court in Kirby v. Immoos Fire Protection, Inc. held that, generally, claims alleging meal and rest period violations under Labor Code section 226.7 are not subject to one-way or two-way fee shifting provisions. “In line with its analysis in Brinker, the Court’s decision in Kirby protects low-wage workers’ rights to pursue section 226.7 meal and rest break claims without fear of exposure to exorbitant amount of attorney’s fees,” said Fernando Flores, Director of Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center’s WageHELP Program.
Two Legal Aid Attorneys on The Fast Track
We are pleased to announce that Tamika L. Butler and Rachael Langston were selected by the editors of The Recorder as two among 50 Lawyers on the Fast Track. The list recognized attorneys who have practiced 10 years or less and who have demonstrated “substantial accomplishments as leaders, lawyers and community members.”
Tamika joined Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center as a Skadden Fellow in 2009 and spent her two year Fellowship creating sites for our Workers’ Rights Clinic in the underserved neighborhoods of Bayview Hunters’ Point and the Western Addition. Upon completion of her Fellowship Tamika was chosen to be the John and Terry Levin Fellow for Fair Play for Girls in Sports . This project, which is a part of our Gender Equity and LGBT Rights Program, advocates for the right of poor girls in low income neighborhoods to equality of opportunity in athletics—a right that is mandated by Title IX which next month will celebrate its 40th anniversary. It is the first project of its kind in the country.
In 2008 Rachael Langston came to Legal Aid as a Skadden Fellow with a project focused on representing disabled clients who were being denied reasonable accommodations at work in violation of state and federal civil rights laws. She also began to build a statewide effort expand the reach of reasonable accommodation provision of state law to cover individuals with caretaking responsibilities. In addition to being an attorney Rachael also became a plaintiff in a major disability rights class action against AC Transit for its failure to safely transport persons with wheelchairs and other mobility devices The lawsuit resulted in substantial injunctive relief designed to ensure that AC Transit complies with the law. Now a staff attorney, Rachael is working with both our Disability Rights and Gender Equity and LGBT Rights Programs. Included among her many responsibilities is leading Legal Aid’s support of Assembly Bill 1740, which provides employment protections to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.
Read more about Fair Play for Girls in Sports.
Read more about our Gender Equity and LBGT Rights Programs.
Read more about our Disability Rights Program.
Mothers in the Workforce: The Challenges of Child Care and Paid Leave
As more working mothers are—and remain—in the workforce, the issues of paid leave and equal pay for women have become more and more prominent. Today, three quarters of women entering the workforce will become pregnant at least once while employed, and a large proportion of them will remain in the workforce following childbirth.
However, the United States is one of the only developed nations that does not have a policy that mandates that paid leave be available when a child gets sick and a parent has to miss work to care for them. Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center has a history of supporting legislation to address these issues as well as providing direct services to women facing discrimination in the workplace or needing assistance to secure the leave to which they are entitled.
Leveling the Playing Field for Female Athletes: Legal Aid Staff Discuss the Promise of Title IX at the AAUW Convention
On Saturday April 14, 2012, Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center attorneys Elizabeth Kristen and Tamika Butler co-presented a workshop at the 2012 American Association of University Women (AAUW) California Convention in Santa Clara, California.
In the workshop, “Fair Play for Girls in Sports-Leveling the Playing Field for K-12 Athletes,” Elizabeth and Tamika focused on the crucial role that Title IX and high school sports programs serve as a ladder out of poverty for girls from low income families. They also discussed the many benefits that state law AB 2404 and with it California Parks and Recreation programs offer as a gateway to broader horizons for young girls living in low income communities.
Decision in Brinker v. Superior Court: Employers May Not Interfere with Workers’ Right to Meal Breaks
On April 12, 2012, the California Supreme Court issued its much-awaited decision in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court, clarifying an employer’s obligations to provide hourly—or non-exempt—workers meal and rest periods.
On the central question of what it means to provide meal periods, the Brinker decision concluded that “an employer’s obligation is to relieve its employee of all duty, with the employee thereafter at liberty to use the meal period for whatever purpose he or she desires, but the employer need not ensure that no work is done.” The Court reasoned that requiring an employer to police its workers’ breaks would contradict the principle that the employer relinquishes all control during breaks. The Court clarified further than an employer cannot impede breaks by pressuring workers against taking breaks, create incentives to forego breaks, or encourage skipping breaks. In doing so, the Court reaffirmed the long-standing principle that California’s workers are “entitled to uninterrupted half-hour [meal] periods in which they are relieved of any duty or employer control and are free to come and go as they please.”