JUSTICE AT WORK

SUMMER 2013 UPDATE

JUSTICE AT WORK

Justice At Work provides legal services to support and encourage immigrant worker organizing.

LEGAL SUPPORT FOR ORGANIZATIONS THAT EDUCATE, ORGANIZE AND ADVOCATE ON BEHALF OF LOW-WAGE WORKERS.

LEGAL IN-TAKE, REFERRALS, AND REPRESENTATION FOR WORKER CENTER MEMBERS.

JUSTICE AT WORK’S CASES• Since 2011, Justice At Work has served

281 workers who have been referred by worker centers.

• We have represented roughly 40% of those workers and provided brief advice to 20%.

• We referred another 40% to government agencies or private attorneys and acted as an on-going liaison.

JUSTICE AT WORK’S CASES CONT’D

• These workers have obtained over $635,000.00 through Justice At Work’s services.

• 68% of workers had wage and hour complaints, 16% had health and safety complaints, 8% had discrimination or sexual harassment complaints, and 8% had other employment issues, such as disability or unemployment, or non-workplace issues such as immigration.

For every $1 given to Justice At Work we have obtained $3.13 on behalf of low-wage workers and their families.

EDUCATION

Wage and hour training with the Fair Labor Division.

Health & Safety Training

SMALL CLAIMS PROJECT

1) Use Small Claims Court as a tool against wage theft.

2) Train workers and organizers to use Small Claims Court.

3) Ensure courts provide access to justice for all workers.

4) Acquire data on the prevalence of wage theft.

SMALL CLAIMS PROJECT J@W SERVICE PROVIDED

Full Representation: 60

Referral/liaison to Private Attorney: 14

Referral/liaison to U.S.

DOL: 12

Referral/liaison to MA AG: 9

SMALL CLAIMS PROJECT

Number of Claims with Monetary Recovery: 61

Number of Pending Claims: 48

Total Money Recovered for Workers: $142,500

Average Recovery for Individual Worker: $2,340

Money donated back to J@W by Workers: $1,100

SMALL CLAIMS PROJECTCLAIMS FILED BY J@W

Claims Filed in Small Claims Court by J@W: 38

Favorable Settlements or Judgments: 28

Claims Still Collecting Money: 13

Pending Claims: 9

SMALL CLAIMS PROJECTLOCATION OF SMALL CLAIMS

COURTS*(*42 Total Claims Filed – Includes Claims Filed by Workers & Worker Centers)

• Boston (1 claim)• Brighton (7 claims)• East Boston (1 claim)• Lynn (1 claim)• Lowell (1 claim)• Malden (9 claims)• Marlborough (4

claims)• New Bedford (3

claims)

• Newton (1 claim)• Peabody (1 claim)• Quincy (3 claims)• Somerville (4 claims)• Taunton (1 claim)• Waltham (3 claims)• Wareham (1 claim)• West Roxbury (1

claim)

Dry Cleaning

Delivery

Gas Station

Cleaning

Landscaping

Construction

Painting

Restaurant

Tent Industry

Truck Driving

Roofing

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

2

2

3

5

6

22

38

12

7

3

2

SMALL CLAIMS PROJECT -- IN-DUSTRIES

(only includes industries with more than one worker)

# of Claims

Somerville

Lynn

New Bedford

East Boston

Chelsea

Everett

Malden

Brighton

Waltham

Allston

0 3 6 9 12 15 18

16

12

10

8

7

7

7

6

5

4

SMALL CLAIM PROJECT -- RES-IDENCE

(Only includes cities with more than 3 workers)

# of Workers

Brazil

Guatemala

El Salvador

Honduras

Mexico

Colombia

Dominican Republic

Egypt

United States

Unknown

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

57

19

11

5

4

2

2

1

1

9

SMALL CLAIMS PROJECT – COUNTRIES

# of Workers

THOMAS SMITH, DIRECTORBefore coming to Justice At Work, Tom supported Boston-area immigrant worker centers through a Skadden Fellowship as an attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services’ (GBLS) Employment Unit. 

CYNDI MARK, BOARD MEMBER

Cyndi is the managing attorney of the Asian Outreach Unit at GBLS. She has represented hundreds of immigrant workers over her legal career.

STAFF AND BOARD

OMAR ANGEL PEREZ, BOARD MEMBER

Omar is the program director of La Fuente in New York City. He was the director of the Workplace Project in Long Island, NY and an organizer with the Workers’ Defense Project in Austin, TX.

RACHEL ROSENBLOOM, BOARD MEMBERRachel is a professor of immigration law and policy at Northeastern University School of Law and has practiced union-side labor law at the Boston firm Segal Roitman LLP.

INGRID NAVA, BOARD PRESIDENTIngrid is General Counsel for Service Employers International Union (SEIU) Local 615. Ingrid was named a 2011 “Up and Coming Lawyer” by MA Lawyers Weekly.

REGIONAL WORKERS CENTERS

Brazilian Immigrant Center. Allston, 617-783-8001

Brazilian Women's Group. Allston, 617-787-0557

Centro Comunitario de los Trabajadores. (New Bedford, 774-961-8283)

Centro Presente. (Somerville, 617-629-4731)

REGIONAL WORKERS CENTERS

Chelsea Collaborative. Chelsea, 617-889-6080

Chinese Progressive Association. Chinatown, 617-357-4499

Fuerza Laboral. Central Falls, RI, 401-725-2700

REGIONAL WORKERS CENTERS

MassCOSH. Dorchester, 617-825-7233

MetroWest Worker Center. Framingham, 617-818-2566

MICAH Worker Center. Lawrence, 978-683-3479

Worker Center for Economic Justice. Lynn, 617-905-7128