In The Media

ABC 7 News in San Francisco covered a sex harassment lawsuit brought by LAAW and co-counsel Wendy Musell against the Postal Service for employing a serial sex harasser in Daly City.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on LAAW and CRLA's $1M settlement in a case that protects countless workers from retaliation. "The case ensures that employers can’t game the system by cheating employees and then turning around and threatening to have the employees deported when they stand up for their basic rights,' said Legal Aid at Work attorney Christopher Ho."

LAAW and co-counsel's  federal civil rights lawsuit claiming unequal treatment of girls’ athletic programs was featured in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.  

Elizabeth Kristen spoke to leaders in the television industry in Los Angeles about military sexual trauma, its depiction in television and movies, and how it impacts veterans and servicemembers and their return to civilian life, including work. The event was written up in Variety.

Our appellate victory today in the California Court of Appeals was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle. We’re challenging the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s practice of screening out applicants for employment based on prior use of an invalid social security number (without conducting an individualized assessment as to the employee’s fitness for employment), arguing that this practice had a disparate impact on Latinos in violation of applicable civil rights laws. This is an important case for workers who may have used someone else’s social security number in the past for reasons that do not affect their current eligibility for employment—as often happens with individuals (like DREAMers) who came to this country as undocumented minors and who later obtained an immigration status that allows them to work.

An article in The Nation discusses (and links to) our proposed statewide rule that would ban courthouse immigration arrests: "Immigrant-rights defenders have petitioned the Judicial Council of California to institute a new rule to prevent ICE intervention [in courthouses]. . ."'In addition to having a chilling effect, it makes it really difficult if not impossible to have meaningful access to due process in the courts.'" (quoting Grisel Ruiz of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center)

Elizabeth Kristen discusses on KQED how Oakland's disproportionate cutting of girls' sports is both immoral and illegal: “[B]alancing the budget on the backs of girls sends a terrible message. It tells girls they are second-class citizens,” And it's against the law. This is a classic story of sex discrimination”

"Retired judges, law professors and activists working with the nonprofit Legal Aid at Work have proposed a broader statewide courthouse rule to be considered by the Judicial Council of California in the fall. The rule would block any civil arrests inside courthouses, saying they are and should be 'places where anyone can come to seek help or to testify without fear.'"

Helen James's story about being kicked out of the Air Force in disgrace for being a lesbian during the Lavender Scare, and how she was finally able to obtain the honorable discharge she deserved just days short of her 91st birthday with the assistance of LAAW, is now on display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum