Job Announcement: Paralegal

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Job Opportunity: Paralegal

Reports to: Legal Director
Supervises: Paralegal does not supervise other staff.
Overtime Status: Overtime eligible, hourly-paid.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We seek a Paralegal dedicated to advancing the rights of low-wage, immigrant, and contingent workers. The Paralegal will support our organization’s efforts to ensure that workers know their rights under local, state, and federal law and that employers are held accountable to labor standards. They will support Legal Clinic activities that advance the rights of low-wage workers, including support for litigation (interfacing with clients, filing pleadings, reviewing documents under attorney direction, and legal research as necessary), support for in-person legal clinics (clinic logistics, planning for the clinic, worker intake, and data collection), and support for efforts to track our activities for reporting to funders (collating intake information, tracking cases, and using our Salesforce database).  They will also support collaborative projects between the Legal Clinic and other elements of the Fair Work Center and Working Washington.  From time to time, the Paralegal may need to work from our Yakima, Washington office. We are looking for Paralegal committed to using their skills to build the power of Washington’s working people. This position will report to the Legal Director.

 

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

We build power through education, organizing, and enforcement. We work to raise and uphold standards in the workplace. And we fight for economic and racial justice in our communities. Here’s how: 

EDUCATION – We learn together about our rights as workers, and we develop the tools to exercise our rights and make them  real.
ORGANIZING – We organize, speak out, and take action to win changes in our workplaces and our lives. Together, we transform industry practices, change laws, and shift norms around the value of work.
ENFORCEMENT – We hold employers accountable to workplace laws and standards through legal services, and we use the law creatively to help build our movement.

ABOUT THE LEGAL TEAM

Our legal team provides free individual consultations, pro se assistance, representation in administrative enforcement processes, and maintains an active strategic litigation docket focused on our priority industries. In addition to direct representation our attorneys provide policy analysis, research, and enforcement strategy support to campaigns to improve workplace conditions.

 

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

We recognize that race equity is central to advancing the mission of our organization. All staff are expected to integrate race equity into the performance of their position’s duties.  

Worker Inquiry Coordination 

  • Monitors email, phone and web form inquiries from workers contacting the organization.
  • Maintains referral resources for workers in the intake process.
  • Coordinates with other teams to respond to new worker inquiries and to direct internal referrals to the Legal Clinic. 
  • Collects and organizes worker intake information.


Legal Clinic Administrative Support 

  • Provides case management support to new and concluded matters, including: opening and closing cases in the clinic’s database, producing and distributing close letters, and updating case status on the Clinic’s case tracking documents.
  • Prepares grant reports as directed by the Legal Director.
  • Prepares reports that assist the Clinic in measuring the team’s impact, including measuring case outcomes and equity priorities.
  • Provides logistical and administrative support to clinics and other public events in which the clinic is participating.

Intake & Client Representation 

Under attorney supervision, the paralegal:

  • Conducts initial intakes.
  • Conducts factual research, including worker interviews, witness interviews, and document gathering.
  • Reviews documents provided by clients or during discovery with attorney oversight.
  • Prepares draft damages calculations for litigation and settlement, with attorney oversight.
  • Drafts internal analysis of potential claims and enforcement options.
  • Prepares correspondence and other case related documents.
  • Files pleadings and other documents with the appropriate court or agency.
  • Interacts with court staff regarding filing, other logistical matters.
  • Provides workers pro se assistance in navigating enforcement processes.

Additional Duties

  • Participates in initiatives to advance equity in the organization’s work.
  • Other duties as assigned by the Legal Director.

 

CANDIDATE QUALIFICATIONS

Required Qualifications

  •    Ability to speak Spanish, Tagalog, Somali, Mandarin, or Amharic.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience working with, or personal experience with, the obstacles and opportunities facing low-wage, immigrant, and contingent workers.
  • Prior experience working as a paralegal.
  • Prior experience managing complex, document heavy workflows.

 

Salary & Benefits: This is a bargaining unit position. Rates of pay are set by the union pay scale, with starting pay between $29.58 per hour and $33.92 per hour based on relevant experience, and significant annual step increases each year. Generous benefits package, including fully-paid family health care, employer 401k contribution, substantial holidays, vacation and sick leave, and ORCA card.

Location: This position is based in our Seattle office, with potential occasional work out of our Yakima office. We are a hybrid workplace and expect this role will have a combination of in-person work and work that can be performed remotely, and are open to considering strong candidates who currently live out of state but are willing to relocate. It may require occasional evening and weekend work and occasional travel throughout the state.

Other Information: 

How to Apply: Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and writing sample (not to exceed five pages) to jobs@fairworkcenter.org with the applicant’s last name and “Paralegal” in the subject line. In your cover letter, let us know why you’re interested in this role and which skills you believe will make you successful in it. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with the priority deadline for applications by May 31, 2023. 

Commitment to Equity: Fair Work Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strongly encourage people from communities most negatively affected by historical and ongoing inequity to apply, particularly: people of color, immigrants, women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people, and people with disabilities. We seek candidates whose lived experiences reflect the lived experiences of the workers we support. If you need disability, language or other accommodation in the application process, please contact Zhi Chen at zhi@fairworkcenter.org.

 

Kim’s story — “My boss said I was faking it.”

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Kim was experiencing a sudden health crisis. She badly needed time away from her job at a call center in Federal Way to recover—but when she requested the time off, her boss turned her down. 

She tried negotiating on her own again…and again…and again. Each time, she was told to report to work, or risk losing her job. Kim knew something was fishy, but wasn’t sure what her options were. So she got in touch with Fair Work Center. 

Our legal clinic supported Kim in negotiating paid time off right away to start her recovery. But it was clear she’d need at least a month off—and she didn’t have the sick leave hours built up to cover that time. We helped her through the complicated and lengthy process to secure a longer period of leave under the Paid Family Medical Leave program. As Kim started to feel better, she realized it wouldn’t be healthy to return to work under her hostile supervisor, who had been so unsupportive throughout her crisis, and so we helped her negotiate severance pay to tide her over. 

>>> Fair Work Center offers free legal consultations—and we count on your support to make that possible. Can you chip in $20 this #GivingTuesday to fund ongoing access to free legal help for immigrant workers like Kim? <<< 

Here’s what Kim has to say about her case: 

“It was unbelievable. I followed every company rule: I marked the time on my calendar, I used their software correctly to request sick time, and they still denied my request four different times. They were saying I was faking it. They pushed me to keep coming in, even though I was barely able to work. They thought I was helpless. 

I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I was in a really bad situation. And if I didn’t report to work, I could get fired. I didn’t know what to do. I knew I needed a lawyer, but I was worried about the cost–I don’t have much money to begin with. 

Fair Work Center stepped in and helped me solve this issue. They called my boss and made sure I got time off right away. Then they told me about the Paid Family Medical Leave program. I’d never heard of it. I had no idea it was an option. The process was long and complicated, and my employer didn’t want to cooperate. So it was good to have somebody who knew the process keeping an eye on things to make sure the company followed the rules. 

I’m overwhelmed with happiness now that my situation is resolved. But I know so many other people also can’t get time off when they need it. My recommendation? Call Fair Work Center sooner rather than later.”

>>> This Giving Tuesday, can you pitch in $20? Your gift means we can continue to offer free legal consultations and support workers as they stand up for their rights. <<<

Danielle Alvarado testimony before the U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity & Fairness in Growth

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Testimony of Danielle Alvarado, Executive Director of Working Washington & Fair Work Center, before the U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity & Fairness in Growth

AUGUST 9, 2022

“Good afternoon Chairman Himes, Ranking Member Steil, and members of the Committee. My name is Danielle Alvarado. I’m the Executive Director of Working Washington & Fair Work Center, a statewide organization of low-wage and historically excluded workers. We have led the campaigns to pass and enforce many of the transformative victories mentioned today.

Seattle’s economy is strong, not in spite of our labor standards, but because of them—and our successes here provide a roadmap for the rest of the country.

There are four key lessons that I want to highlight:

FIRST, LOCAL LEADERSHIP ON WORKPLACE PROTECTIONS MATTERS, ESPECIALLY FOR HISTORICALLY EXCLUDED WORKERS 

The success of the Fight for Fifteen meant 1 in 4 Seattle workers got a raise — making it one of the largest economic boosts for workers in recent American history. That’s more than 100,000 people with more in their pockets to pay bills, save up for emergencies, and spend in the local economy.

Today, our Seattle minimum wage is $10 higher than the federal, and the movement that started here has spread nationwide. Over the past decade, we’ve increased wages by more than $150 billion dollars for 26 million workers across the country.

Our victories in Washington aren’t just about what we’ve won, but who has benefitted. We have taken on some of the most deeply entrenched and racist labor standards exclusions in federal law. In Seattle, nannies and house cleaners passed the first municipal Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to establish basic protections like minimum pay and breaks. And this year, for the first time, Washington farmworkers are earning overtime. These victories are chipping away at an economic system that for too long has trapped workers of color at the bottom.

SECOND, LOCAL GOVERNMENT CAN QUICKLY PIVOT, ENSURING WORKERS ARE NOT LEFT BEHIND 

The power of local leadership is clear in moments of crisis. As the pandemic hit frontline workers hard, we won first-in-the-nation emergency hazard pay and sick time rights for gig workers. The City also moved swiftly to establish a relief fund providing additional help to nearly 10,000 residents. These emergency measures were critical to keeping Seattle workers safe, healthy, and able to make ends meet.

And these crisis responses often pave the way for long term solutions. That’s why we continued to organize, which led the City Council to unanimously pass PayUp, our permanent gig worker ordinance, this May.

THIRD, STRONG LABOR PROTECTIONS REQUIRE INVESTING IN ENFORCEMENT 

We know our rights are only real when they’re enforced—and when that doesn’t happen, it’s people of color, Black workers, immigrants, and other historically excluded groups who are more likely to experience labor standards violations.
That’s why Seattle established the Office of Labor Standards (OLS) to build on the work of our state agency. To date, OLS has returned nearly 25 million dollars to over 40,000 Seattle workers. OLS enforces strategically. By focusing resources on priority issues and industries, it is able to recover more money for workers, close the enforcement gap, and hold bad actor employers accountable.

Most critically, OLS has invested millions of dollars in partnerships with grassroots organizations like ours. When we fund community based outreach and enforcement, we break down the isolation and fear of retaliation that keeps so many workers – particularly the most marginalized –  from coming forward. By combining community partnerships and strategic enforcement, we are able to ensure that our progressive labor standards really mean something to the workers who fought for them and need them most.

LAST, STRONG LABOR STANDARDS REQUIRE STRONG WORKER ORGANIZING 

We are proud of our partners in local government. And, it’s critical to understand that the progress we’ve made in Washington would not have happened without the leadership of workers.

Time and time again, we’ve seen that workers know better than anyone what needs to change about our economy. To make sure worker voices remain front-and-center, we’ve created strong coalitions of community organizations, labor unions, and worker centers like ours. By coming together to win new protections at the state and local level, we’re responding to the modern economy by building an inclusive labor movement that leaves nobody behind.

OUR PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE 

While we’ve achieved powerful victories in the Seattle area, there is still more work to be done. Washington has no state income tax, which means too many workers struggle while the rich get richer.

There’s an urgent need to strengthen federal and state labor standards and bring them up to speed with Seattle’s gains. Our safety net has unacceptable shortcomings: we need universal access to unemployment, paid leave, and robust health and safety protections that reflect the realities of climate change. We need deeper investments in labor standards enforcement to make sure rights on paper are real in every corner of the state.

No matter where we live, we all deserve, fairly paid, dignified work. Seattle’s workers have shown it can be done. We are ready to continue leading the way.”

MEDIA RELEASE: Ezell’s worker files lawsuit over sexual harassment

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COURT FILING DETAILS TWO YEARS OF HARASSMENT, DISCRIMINATION AT EZELL’S FAMOUS CHICKEN BELLEVUE LOCATION

Lawsuit underscores widespread crisis of sexual harassment and discrimination in the restaurant industry

A worker at Ezell’s Famous Chicken has filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court alleging she was sexually harassed and assaulted while at work.

For two years, the worker’s supervisor, the General Manager of the Bellevue Ezell’s Famous Chicken location, engaged in an escalating pattern of harassment, assault, and intimidation. Meanwhile, corporate management at Ezell’s failed to provide sexual harassment policies or training in Spanish or any way for this worker to report the General Manager’s sexual harassment to upper management at the company without fearing for her job.

The full court filing is available here. Specific allegations raised in the complaint include:

  • Sexual harrassment and assault: the store’s General Manager engaged in an escalating pattern of unwanted sexual behavior, including many instances where he made sexually-explicit and derogatory verbal comments to her, touched the worker’s body without her permission, and an occasion where he groped her body while after trapping her in a walk-in freezer.

  • Corporate responsibility: Management at this Ezell’s location provided no sexual harassment training in Spanish, nor did they offer any procedure for workers to bring forth complaints about sexual harassment or other mistreatment

MORE INFORMATION:

The worker is represented by attorneys at Fair Work Center and Frank Freed Subit & Thomas, LLP.

###

Contact Jeffrey Gustaveson: jeffrey@fairworkcenter.org

Reglas de salud & seguridad durante las olas de calor

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Las temperaturas están llegando a las tres cifras en Yakima, Spokane, y Walla Walla, a los 90s en Seattle y el resto del estado.

Así que es un buen tiempo para revisar las reglas de calor extremo que comienzan a notarse cuando la temperatura llega a 89º+ por más de 15 minutos en una hora.

Responsabilidades de empleadores durante las olas de calor: 

🥤Proveer una quarta de galón de agua para cada trabajador cada hora

🧊 Mantener el agua fría y accesible

🕶️  Proveer áreas con sombra para descansar

🧘 Descansos mandatorios para enfriarse

Más detalles aquí del Departamento de Labor e Industrias de WA. 

Health & safety rules for WA workers during extreme heat

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[Leer esta información en español]

Temperatures are reaching triple digits in Yakima, Spokane, and Walla Walla, and the 90s in Seattle & the rest of the state. 

So it’s a good time to brush up on the outdoor heat exposure rules that kick in for workers exposed to 89º+ temperatures for more than 15 minutes in a 60-minute period. 

Key employer responsibilities during excessive heat:

🥤Provide 1 quart of water per worker per hour

🧊 Keep water cool & accessible

🕶️ Provide shade

🧘Mandatory cool-down rest periods

More details here from the WA Department of Labor & Industries.

Meet Gabo Gutierrez

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Read more

Our statement on the US Supreme Court’s Decision to Roll Back Abortion Rights

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down abortion rights is a misogynistic attack on people who can become pregnant. We condemn this assault on bodily autonomy and workers’ rights, which will fall the hardest on poor people, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ people.

Reproductive rights are workers’ rights. Across the country, too many workers already face serious barriers to staying healthy: many of us work without the right to paid time off and are paid poverty wages that prevent us from affording basic necessities like medical care, childcare, and food. Now, millions of us no longer have the fundamental right to bodily autonomy, further limiting our ability to make our own decisions about what’s right for our health and economic stability.

This ruling erects yet another barrier for poor and working people trying to survive and thrive—and it’s part of a broader right-wing, anti-democratic attempt to control and disempower working class people. Here in Washington state, we’ll keep building the power we need to ensure everyone can lead a healthy and dignified life.

Centro Chinampa is now open in Yakima!

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More than one hundred people came together earlier this week to celebrate the grand opening of Centro Chinampa, our new worker center in Yakima!

Packing house worker leader Angie Lara speaking at the Centro Chinampa grand opening.

Centro Chinampa is a first-of-its-kind hub for worker and immigrant rights in Central WA—a space for us to gather as immigrants, workers, and community to defend our rights, get involved in politics, and build collective power.

We’re proud to collaborate on this worker center and share a roof with OneAmerica, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, and the Washington State Labor Council.

The center is named for the ancient Chinampas of Anahuac (the territory that is now Mexico), floating gardens cultivated and cared for by the local community. As OneAmerica organizer Audel explained at last night’s event: “These practices bonded people to each other and the places they inhabited. We see many parallels between these traditions and the space we have created at Centro Chinampa.”

Danielle Alvarado, Executive Director of Fair Work Center, speaking at the Centro Chinampa grand opening.

 

Fair Work Center staff outside Centro Chinampa.

It was a beautiful night celebrating community and an exciting vision for worker power in Central WA. You can read all about it in the Yakima Herald and El Sol De Yakima — and then, if you’re able, chip in to support our Yakima Worker Center Fund, which will ensure we have the resources we need to move this vision forward.

¡Gran inauguración del centro de trabajadores en Yakima — 15 de junio!

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¡La gran inauguración del nuevo centro de trabajadores en Yakima viene el 15 de junio…y te invitamos a festejar con nosotros!

Nuestro nuevo centro en Yakima — un esfuerzo colaborativo entre OneAmerica, WAISN, y WLSC — será un espacio focal en donde la comunidad y los trabajadores pueden venir para aprender de sus derechos, obtener apoyo legal cuando los derechos no se están respetando, y crear un poder comunitario para luchar por nuevos derechos.

Únete a nosotros para esta celebración comunitaria. RSVP aquí.

Si no puedes venir en persona, ¿nos puedes apoyar con una donación? Cada dólar nos ayuda en dar talleres sobre los derechos laborales y proveer apoyo legal a los trabajadores en el Valle de Yakima: CONTRIBUIR HOY