Legal Aid at Work

We helped two Central Valley dairy workers fight back against extreme exploitation. One was subjected, over several years, to abusive working conditions, unremitting racial slurs, and threats of deportation by his white supervisor, who carried a weapon and routinely took target practice at a Mexican flag. His partner was harassed and sexually assaulted by the same supervisor. After making a report to law enforcement, both were forced to flee with their young child after one of the owners fired a weapon near their employer-provided housing. With our involvement, we obtained a favorable settlement for them.We filed a nationwide class action with the Impact Fund and King & Spalding to help over 30,000 veterans discharged due to sexual orientation under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The lawsuit aims to remove indicators of sexual orientation from their discharge paperwork, upgrade their discharge status to Honorable, and grant access to vital veteran benefits they've wrongfully been denied.We fought to secure reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities who were impacted by COVID-19. For example, we obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of an office manager whose dedicated service of 15 years had abruptly ended because her boss fired her for requesting telework accommodations in the midst of the pandemic.We and our coalition partners were instrumental in passing California's SB 951, a transformative law set to benefit millions of workers with low wages by increasing Paid Family Leave and State Disability Insurance wage replacement rates to 90% for workers with middle-to-low incomes. Effective in 2025, this change will especially impact workers of color and those in lower-income brackets, who were previously unable to afford what often amounted to a 40% pay cut in order to take leave.We filed a lawsuit on behalf of 17 strawberry pickers along with CRLA against industry giant Driscoll's and Seventh Tree Farm. This lawsuit serves as a significant step toward ending widespread wage theft in California's critical agricultural sector.We helped an African American bartender combat hair discrimination and racial bias at work. After she was forced to quit her job due to demeaning comments from her employer, we filed a complaint under the CROWN Act. Through mediation, we helped her recover significant lost wages and emotional distress damages. Critically, we also secured training and a new complaint system for the workplace to make sure that other workers did not have to endure similar racial harassment and discrimination.We provided individualized legal advice and counsel to over 3,000 workers in the past year, including through our 13 regular Workers Rights Clinic sites and additional evening clinics to meet increased client demand. We operate our clinics in close partnership with 8 law schools, 150 law students, 100 volunteer attorneys, and 11 community based organizations.