National Employment Law Project

About the Immigrant Worker Justice Project

NELP’s Immigrant Worker Justice Project works at the intersection of labor law and immigration law. We seek to expand and defend the labor rights of all workers, and to ensure that immigrant workers can assert their labor rights in a climate of equality and fairness, free from fear of reprisal. Our partners include workers centers and unions, immigrant rights groups, progressive lawyers and community organizations. With them, we promote policies that expand the power of community organizing and protect immigrant workers’ labor, civil, and human rights.

See our project website for more information. http://www.nelp.org/index.php/content/content_issues/category/immigrants_and_work/

Immigrant Worker Justice Project Staff

Rebecca Smith, Immigrant Worker Justice Project Coordinator, rsmith@nelp.org, 206-324-4000

Eunice Cho, Skadden Fellow/Staff Attorney, echo@nelp.org, 510-663-5707

Tsedeye Gebreselassie, Staff Attorney, tsedeye@nelp.org, 212-285-3025 x 314

Catherine Ruckelshaus, Legal Co-Director, cruckelshaus@nelp.org, 212-285-3025 x 306

Haeyoung Yoon, Staff Attorney, Staff Attorney, hyoon@nelp.org, 212-285-3025x315

Unemployment Insurance: Keeping the Promise Today and Tomorrow

NELP's National Conference ǀ Washington DC, December 5-6, 2011

NELP’s 2011 national conference brought together local, state, and national leaders to chart an agenda that keeps workers and economic recovery front and center of state and federal unemployment insurance policies. Below, please find presentations and materials from many of the conference sessions; a full agenda can also be found here.

Plenaries:

The Federal Landscape of Unemployment Insurance Challenges and Priorities

Federal UI Challenges and Priorities: An Overview (pdf). Judy Conti, National Employment Law Project
This plenary also featured: Danielle Gray, National Economic Council; Nick Gwyn, House Committee on Ways and Means; and Deidra Henry-Spires, Senate Finance Committee

Filling the Good Jobs Deficit: An Economic Recovery Agenda for Our States and Cities

Filling the Good Jobs Deficit: An Overview (pdf). Christine Riordan, National Employment Law Project
Filling the Good Jobs Deficit: Transportation and Manufacturing (pdf). Brian Lombardozzi, BlueGreen Alliance
Creating Good Jobs in Home Health Care (pdf). Carol Regan, Paraprofessional Health Institute

Workshops:

Defending State UI Programs: Responding to Proposals to Cut Benefits ǀ Moderated by Rick McHugh, NELP

Defending Your State UI Program: A Toolkit (pdf). Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project
Defending Georgia's UI Program: Responding to Proposals to Cut Benefits (pdf). Elizabeth Appley, Georgia League of Women Voters
UI 101: Federal Law and Conformity Issues (pdf). Suzanne Schwartz-Simonetta, US Department of Labor, UI Legislative Services

Strategies for Reemployment and Layoff Aversion ǀ Moderated by Christine Riordan, NELP

Averting Layoffs through Work Sharing Programs (pdf). Neil Ridley, Center on Law and Social Policy
Subsidized and Transitional Jobs: Creating Work Opportunities for Long-Term Unemployed (pdf). LaDonna Pavetti, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Georgia Work$: How Does an Unlawful Program Become a National Model? (pdf). George Wentworth, National Employment Law Project
This workshop also featured: Deborah Chalfie, AARP

The $38 Billion Question: What States and the Federal Government can do to Rescue Insolvent UI Programs ǀ Moderated by Mike Evangelist and Rick McHugh, NELP

UI Trust Fund Solvency: The Employer Perspective (pdf). Doug Holmes, UWC Strategic Services
Trust Fund Loans: Interest Charges and Credit Reductions (pdf). Mike Miller, US Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance
Unemployment Insurance Financing Issues (pdf). Wayne Vroman, Labor, Human Services and Population Center, the Urban Institute
This workshop also featured: Michael Leachman, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Strategies to Support Families Confronting the End of UI Benefits ǀ Moderated by Maurice Emsellem, NELP

Strategies to Support Families Confronting the End of UI Benefits (pdf). Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project
Food Stamps/SNAP: A Critical Household Resource Against Hunger (pdf). Pat Baker, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
This workshop also featured: Joseph Carbone, The WorkPlace, Inc., and Sandi Vito, 1199 SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund

Anatomy of Effective State UI Campaigns: Pennsylvania 2011 ǀ Moderated by Mike Evangelist, NELP

Some Tools in the Advocacy Communications Toolbox (pdf). Mitch Hirsch, National Employment Law Project
This workshop also featured: Sharon Dietrich, Community Legal Services Philadelphia

Preserving Strong State UI Programs through Research ǀ Moderated by Rebecca Dixon, NELP

Understanding State UI Tax Data (pdf). Rob Pavosevich, US Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance
Understanding UI Benefits (pdf). Claire McKenna, National Employment Law Project
The Impact of UI on the Labor Market (pdf). Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute
Unemployment Conflict (pdf). Arthur Delaney, Huffington Post

Forging a Fair and Balanced State Response to UI Overpayments ǀ Moderated by Claire McKenna, NELP

State Responses to UI Overpayments (pdf). Maurice Emsellem, National Employment Law Project
Unemployment Insurance Integrity Update (pdf). Gay Gilbert, US Department of Labor, Office of Workforce Security
Advocating for Workers in UI Overpayment Proceedings (pdf). Susan Nofi-Bendici, New Haven Legal Assistance
See also the following handouts from NELP: Table 1: UI Program Integrity Rates, and Table 2: State Waiver Provisions

Access and Eligibility: UI Advocacy at the Agency Level ǀ Moderated by George Wentworth, NELP

The Race to the Top: Efforts to Improve UI Access and Eligibility in Massachusetts (pdf). Monica Halas, Greater Boston Legal Services
2011 Changes to Florida Unemployment Compensation Law (pdf). Val Greenfield, Florida Legal Services
Unemployment Compensation Prepaid Cards (pdf). Lauren Saunders, National Consumer Law Center
This workshop also featured: Richard Blum, New York Legal Aid Society

NELP’s Free Webinar Series

Promoting Recovery by Raising the Minimum Wage
Thursday, December 8th, 2-3 PM EST -- Click here to register!

Our nation is facing not just a dire jobs deficit but also a wages deficit. The anemic job growth that we are seeing is skewed towards low-wage industries, leaving more families than ever relying on $8 or $9-an-hour jobs to make ends meet. And wages for all but the wealthiest have been stagnant or actually falling in real terms. As state and local leaders search for recovery strategies, raising the minimum wage is a key approach for tackling these structural problems facing our economy.

In this webinar, you hear about exciting new minimum wage campaigns happening around the nation, and get up to speed on the latest economic research, the most recent public-opinion poll findings, and the most effective messages (especially in the context of economic recovery) that advocates are using in their campaigns to raise the minimum wage.

Presenters: Jen Kern, Minimum Wage Campaign Coordinator, NELP; Paul Sonn, Legal Co-Director, NELP; Anne Thompson, Policy Analyst, NELP

Improving Life Outcomes

Human care and development must be improved if we are to build a competitive 21st century economy. The children we educate today will be the workers of tomorrow, and as our society ages we must also build systems to care for the elderly whose days at work are past. A strong foundation in social care is every bit as critical as a strong physical foundation, and has the potential for impressive job creation: according to some studies, investments in social care can create 1.5 times the number of jobs as the same investment in green energy.

At the same, social care jobs provide employment for those populations that are among the hardest hit by the Great Recession, such as women and African American and Latino workers without a college degree.

Job creation in social care leads to better quality of life for all. Early education and eldercare are top concerns for many families, but often strain family budgets and cause stress or low productivity at work for heads of households. These types of investments are critical to enabling workers to meet work- and family-related demands without compromising one or the other, ultimately resulting in a more productive workforce and competitive economy.

Focus on Education and Universal Pre-K: Pre-kindergarten education is overwhelmingly funded by state and local governments, leaving room for advocates to promote policies that lead to concrete job creation. For example, states can adopt a per-pupil funding structure and include pre-K within larger educational programs that govern grammar schools. States such as Iowa have taken creative financing approaches that phase in access to pre-K, while other states, such as West Virginia, require counties to partner with existing programs to develop a comprehensive pre-K plan.
Promote Home-Based Health Care: States can promote quality home care jobs through Medicaid by creating public bodies to coordinate consumer-driven programs, under which families of the person needing care recruit and hire home care workers. Other cities and counties, particularly in New York and California, have promoted quality home care jobs by adopting living wage policies for Medicaid home care workers. In fact, New York became the first state to implement such policy as part of a comprehensive initiative to modernize the program, improve jobs, and control costs.

Please see Filling the Good Jobs Deficit: An Economic Recovery Agenda for Our States and Cities, and sign up to receive monthly newsletters, for more information.

Strengthening Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability

Failing to address climate change is not only bad for the environment; it’s also bad for jobs. Multiple lines of research have shown that leaving climate change unaddressed will cause a net loss in in gross domestic product and jobs over the long run. In other words, our dependence on costly fossil fuels has put us on a path of unsustainable economic growth, and now is a better time than ever to get on the right track while putting workers back on the job.

By focusing on short-term job creation investments that promote alternative energy or maintain and expand water and recycling programs, we can lay the groundwork for such a shift. Not only we will accrue long-term public health and environmental benefits, but we’ll also fix some of the most gaping holes left in our labor market by the Great Recession.

Clean tech jobs, for example, are one of the fastest growing sectors in the green economy. Driving demand for renewable energy such as wind and solar power can spur manufacturing growth, all while creating savings for households through reduced energy bills over the long-term.

Create Demand for Alternative Energy: Cities and states can do much to foster growth in renewable energy such as wind and solar power. Two cities in Ohio – Cleveland and Toledo – for example, have taken up measures to promote offshore wind development and solar power, respectively. States such as California have implemented strong renewable energy requirements to drive up demand and create jobs, while numerous cities – and, one state, Vermont – have used CLEAN programs to create and grow markets for utility companies delivering renewable energy.
Clean Up Water and Recycling Programs: Local communities face a crisis in dealing with the outputs of densely populated areas; our landfills are filling up and uncontrolled storm water carries chemicals and waste into our drinking water systems. Many communities are pursuing a variety of strategies to deal with these problems while creating jobs. Austin, TX has implemented pricing mechanisms that encourage recycling, and the Don’t Waste LA Coalition in California is advocating for policies that promote recycling by commercial property owners. Meanwhile, Philadelphia has developed an ambitious plan to address storm water runoff, while the state of Connecticut established a nitrogen credit to create an incentive to improve wastewater facilities.

Please see Filling the Good Jobs Deficit: An Economic Recovery Agenda for Our States and Cities, and sign up to receive monthly newsletters, for more information.

Mending Our Built Environment

Seemingly every week, we hear of new reports that tell us the roads, bridges, airports and rail lines we travel on, and the buildings we live and work in, are in a critical state of disrepair. Without question, our crumbling infrastructure needs work, for the sake of our long-term economic growth as well as our basic health and safety.

The good news is that we’re currently facing a truly unique opportunity: we can fix our infrastructure, create a more productive economy, and put people to work in good jobs, all at once. By adopting “fix it first” policies and relying on cost-benefit analyses that put job creation front and center, elected leaders can – and should – allocate existing funds to projects like mass transit, school maintenance and building retrofits.

These types of projects are labor-intensive initiatives that result in good jobs with good pay, many of which stay in the local economy for the long-term and offer concrete career pathways for workers, all while curbing climate change and building a more sustainable and productive economy.

Focus on Transit: Our transit systems are in a state of disrepair: an estimated one-third of our nation’s public transit systems are in marginal or poor condition, yet many are deferring maintenance and, even worse, making cuts and laying off workers. States and cities should instead use existing funds in smarter ways, and prioritize projects such as light rail, as the city of Denver has done, or bus rapid transit, as Las Vegas has done.
Fix the Schools: Poor air quality, a lack of safe drinking water, exposure to contaminants such as lead and asbestos, and outdated facilities and technology contribute to health and learning problems of future generations. In order to promote better learning and put people back to work, districts should prioritize measures that will make schools more energy efficient and prioritize upgrades that will create much-needed construction jobs.
Retrofit Buildings: Building retrofits are a triple-win: they increase energy efficiency, create good jobs for a large swath of the workforce struggling to find work, and require less ramp-up time than other infrastructure projects. Cities such as Portland, Oregon have created high-road models for residential retrofits that are now being taken up state-wide; another 23 cities and counties have authorized Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing to make energy and water improvements to commercial buildings.

Please see Filling the Good Jobs Deficit: An Economic Recovery Agenda for Our States and Cities, and sign up to receive monthly newsletters, for more information.

Job Creation and Economic Recovery

Putting America back to work is a national challenge, requiring a strong national response that includes bold programs to open up new employment opportunities and tax reforms to stop the irresponsible giveaways to big corporations and the wealthiest individuals. But there are also solutions we can deploy at the state and local levels to address the good-jobs deficit. In Filling the Good Jobs Deficit: An Economic Recovery Agenda for Our States and Cities, NELP explores how to create family-supporting jobs and promote true economic recovery for our workforce.

NELP’s Recovery Agenda rests on three pillars: (1) support for programs that put a wide range of workers onto payrolls quickly and that improve the quality of life in our communities; (2) stronger workplace protections for low-wage workers and raising the wage floor to reduce income inequality; and (3) do no harm to those hit hardest by this recession by protecting programs to help workers ride out economic downturns.

In these pages, NELP highlights innovative policy solutions from around the country that can move us beyond talking about jobs to actually putting people back to work.

Mending Our Built Environment

Mass transit, school maintenance, and energy-efficient retrofit projects can put our local economies back on track.
Strengthening Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability

Recycling programs, improved storm water systems, and supporting alternative energy generation can create good jobs and improve public health for benefits in the short and long term.
Improving Life Outcomes

Commitments to quality universal pre-kindergarten education and dignified care for the elderly ease the burden for today’s working people, better prepare tomorrow’s workers for success, and could put millions of people to work today in important caregiving professions.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Anastasia Christman, achristman@nelp.org, or sign up to receive monthly newsletters on economic recovery efforts.

Development Director

Rebecca Andruszka
randruszka@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025
New York, New York Office

Biography
Rebecca Andruszka joined NELP in 2011. As Development Director she leads all fundraising efforts and long-term fundraising strategy. Prior to this, she was US External Relations Director at Ubuntu Education Fund, a South African community organization. She was previously Development & Communications Manager at Funders Concerned About AIDS, a funder affinity group. Rebecca graduated from the United Way of New York City’s Junior Fellows Program in Winter 2007. She is active in a number local social justice organizations, particularly Younger Women’s Task Force, where she is NYC Chapter Director.

Education
B.A., New School
M.A., Hunter College

NELP 2011 Awards Dinner: An Evening to Honor Work

NELP 2011

Awards Dinner

November 9
Washington, DC

Click here to dowload Invitation

Honorees:

Bob Herbert, award-winning former New York Times columnist
To be named the inaugural NELP-Beth Shulman Fellow

Patricia Smith, Solicitor of the U.S. Department of Labor
To receive the Frances Perkins Legacy Award

Join us!

Wednesday, November 9 @ 6pm

The Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC

RSVP here

For more information, contact info@nelp.org

Not going to the Dinner but want to donate, click below

Skadden Fellow

Eunice Hyunhye Cho, Skadden Fellow
echo@nelp.org
(510) 663-5707
Oakland, California Office

Areas of expertise
Immigrants and Work * Enforcement of Workplace Standards

Biography
Eunice joined NELP in 2011 as a Skadden Fellow. She works with the Immigrant Worker Justice Project to support and expand the rights of low-wage immigrant workers. She has also worked as a law clerk for Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to law school, Eunice was the Education Director at the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Education
J.D., Stanford Law School
B.A., Yale University

Selected Publications

“Whose Borders? Regulating Migration Across Local and National Boundaries,” Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (2010).
“Beyond a Day Without an Immigrant: Building a Sustainable Movement for Immigrant Rights,” in Immigrant Rights in the Shadows of Citizenship (Rachel Buff, ed. 2008).
BRIDGE: Building a Race and Immigration Dialogue in the Global Economy—A Popular Education Resource for Immigrant and Refugee Community Organizers (2004).
Anti-Immigrant Racism in the U.S.: A Report on U.S. Government Compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (2001).

Senior Policy Analyst

Anastasia Christman
achristman@nelp.org
(202) 887-8202
Washington, D.C. Office

Biography
Anastasia Christman, Senior Policy Analyst, joined NELP in 2011, after nine years of working with the Service Employees International Union. She has worked with labor unions and community groups to design responsible development policies and to promote living wage jobs in service industries. She has lobbied at the federal, state and local levels on behalf of working people. She earned a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2000.

Transforming Communities

Keynote Address
What Works With Job Creation and Economic Development
Tim Bartik, Senior Economist, Upjohn Institute | pdf

Keynote Address

Building an Economy that Works for All

Harold Meyerson, Editor-at-Large, American Prospect

Alternative Ownership: Business Creation and Employee Ownership

Bill McIntyre, Evergreen Cooperatives, Cleveland
Deborah Saul, Monroe Publishing, Monroe, MI
Jay Simecek, Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Kent | pdf
Minsu Longiaru, Michigan ROC/Colors Restaurant, Detroit

Innovative State Workforce Policies

Carolyn Peckham, Wisconsin RISE | pdf
Mike Goldman, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development/Minnesota AFL-CIO
Peter Ruark, Michigan League for Human Services | pdf

Organizing to Win

Art Reyes III, Michigan Voice
Barney Oursler, Pittsburgh United
Rick Carter, FACT, Flint

Tools for Building Thriving Communities

Craig Coney, Career Alliance, Genesee County Land Bank Employment Initiative | pdf
Glenn Puit, Michigan Land Use Institute
Guy Stockard, Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Section 3 Program | pdf

High Road Sector Partnerships

Deena Schwartz, Public Private Partnerships | pdf
Leroy Nicholson, Alabama State Partnership | pdf
Rhandi Berth, Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership | pdf

Building a Community Wage Theft Campaign

Becki Smith, National Employment Law Project | pdf
Leone Bicchieri, Chicago Workers' Collaborative
Sulma Arias, National People's Action | pdf

Community Benefit Agreements

Barney Oursler, Pittsburgh United
James Hunter, Sugar Law Project, Detroit
Venus Chapman, D4, Detroit | pdf

Flint Programs Showcase

Antoinetta Williams, AARP 50+ Employment Program, Flint
Isaiah Oliver, Mott Community College, Youth Services | pdf
Jonathan Jarrett, Mott Community College, Adult Career Pathways | pdf
Phil Walker, Flint Strive

Wage Theft: Enforcement Strategies

Marc Poulos, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting
Marilyn Widman, Allotta, Farley & Widman, Toledo

High Performance Workforce Practices for Manufacturing Communities

Erin Kauth, Michigan Human Resources Development, Inc.
John Paradore, Lima Automotive Task Force | pdf
Kristin Dziczek, Center for Automotive Research | pdf
Walt Lodes, Michigan Human Resources Development, Inc.

Reentry Services and Employment Rights of People with Criminal Records

Kelly L. Bidelman, Oakland and Macomb County Offices/Legal Aid & Defender Association | pdf
Madeline Neighly, National Employment Law Project | pdf
Robb Burroughs, Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency | pdf

Highlighting New Programs of Significance: Earn & Learn and Community Trade Adjustment Assistance

Alicia Booker, Career Alliance | pdf
Ed Strong, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce | pdf

Policy Analyst

Claire McKenna, Policy Analyst
212-285-3025 x 322
cmckenna@nelp.org

Areas of expertise
Unemployment Insurance

Biography
Claire joined NELP in 2010, where she researches state and federal policies for unemployed workers. Prior to that, she worked at the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness in New York City conducting secondary research on poverty and instability in early childhood.

Education
M.P.A., Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University
B.A., Fordham University

Policy Analyst

Anne Thompson, Policy Analyst
athompson@nelp.org
(202) 887-8202 x366
Washington, D.C. Office

Areas of expertise
Minimum Wage and Living Wage • Communications

Anne Thompson is a writer, researcher and communications strategist for NELP’s minimum wage campaign. She received her Masters in Public Policy in 2010 from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she focused on labor economics and low-wage work. Previously, she worked on communications strategies for campaigns to invest in green jobs, health care and education at the Campaign for America’s Future. Her writing has appeared in papers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and her videos have received over 5 million views on YouTube.

Education:
M.P.P., Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
B.A., Georgetown University

Web and Campaign Associate

Mitchell Hirsch, Web and Campaign Associate
mhirsch@nelp.org
212-285-3025 x 352

After being laid off from a long-standing job in the retail industry, Mitchell Hirsch turned full-time to his life-long passions of politics and journalism. He was named 2010 CREDO Mobile/Netroots Nation Blog Activist of the Year for his work on Working America’s Main Street Blog, and joined NELP in 2010.

Communications Director

Norman Eng, Director of Communications
neng@nelp.org
212-285-3025 ext. 317
New York City Office

Biography

Norman Eng joined NELP as communications director in the fall of 2010. Previously, he was media relations director at the New York Immigration Coalition, where he served as a media strategist, policy advocate, writer, editor, and spokesperson for that organization. Norman has been quoted in The New York Times, New York Daily News, National Public Radio, NY1, El Diario La Prensa, and numerous other mainstream and ethnic media outlets.

Senior Finance & Administrative Specialist

Manny Mercado
emercado@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 x310
New York City Office

Biography
Manny Mercado joined NELP in 2010 as Finance and Administration Assistant. Prior to joining NELP, he managed Odyssey Capital, a property management and entrepreneurial enterprise; and served as accountant for Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment for eleven years. He is a graduate of Pace University, where he was student government treasurer and president of Alpha Chi Epsilon Fraternity. With over fifteen years of accounting and business experience, it is his privilege to contribute his efforts and be part of the NELP family.

Education
B.B.A., Pace University

Policy Analyst

Michael Evangelist
mevangelist@nelp.org
(734) 274-43330 x159
Michigan Office

Biography
Michael joined NELP in 2010. As a member of the Economic Adjustment Initiative and Unemployment Insurance teams, his work includes research, analysis, and advocacy in support of state and federal programs for jobless workers as well as unemployment insurance reform. Prior to joining NELP, he was a policy analyst at the Center for Economic Progress in Chicago where he advocated on behalf of low-income workers for progressive federal tax policies and savings incentives. Michael became interested in social justice issues while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine.

Education
M.P.P, University of Michigan
B.A., University of Notre Dame

Managing Director, Finance & Administration

Patricia J. Kozu
pkozu@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 x307
New York City Office

Biography
Pat Kozu joined NELP in 2010 where she oversees the finance, development, communications, technology, HR and administrative functions. Prior this, she was Vice President, Finance and Administration at the F.B. Heron Foundation. Previously, she held senior operations, finance and marketing positions at The New School, Citibank, American Express, Nabisco, and several entrepreneurial ventures. She serves on the boards of the Center for Urban Community Services where she chairs the Development Committee and the Center for Effective Philanthropy where she chairs the Finance Committee. She volunteers as a mentor to Baruch College students.

Education
B.S., University of Washington
M.S., New York University
Associate Professional Certificate, New York University

Pro Bono Attorney

Andriette Roberts, Pro Bono Attorney
intern3@nelp.org
212-285-3025, ext 322
New York City Office

Area of Expertise
Unemployment Insurance

Biography
Andriette joined NELP in 2009, where she conducts legal research on state and federal unemployment policies and writes about federal legislation for unemployedworkers.org.

Education
J.D., Hofstra University School of Law
B.A., Clark Atlanta University

Minimum Wage Campaign Coordinator

Jen Kern, Minimum Wage Campaign Coordinator
jkern@nelp.org
(202) 887-8202 x364
Washington, D.C. Office

Areas of expertise
Minimum Wage and Living Wage · Campaign Assistance

Biography
Jen recently joined NELP to coordinate work on building a campaign to increase the federal minimum wage. Jen’s background is in providing technical assistance and support to labor and community organizers for grassroots organizing campaigns around worker justice issues. For 15 years, Jen worked in the national office of ACORN, including ten years as the director of ACORN’s Living Wage Resource Center, which served as a clearinghouse for the national living wage movement and provided direct organizing support for the campaigns driving the effort. Immediately before joining NELP, Jen spent a year and a half at American Rights at Work on the campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, working to coordinate workers’ rights organizing strategies with state consultants, labor leaders, and allies on the state and national levels.

Education
B.A., Grinnell College

Staff Attorney

Michelle Natividad Rodriguez
mrodriguez@nelp.org
(510) 663-5705
Oakland, California Office

Areas of expertise
Criminal Records and Employment

Biography
Michelle joined NELP in 2010. She currently works on eliminating unfair barriers to employment of people with criminal records. Before joining NELP, Michelle was a Senior Staff Attorney at Public Advocates, a non-profit legal advocacy organization, where she advocated for low-income communities and people of color primarily in the area of educational equity.

Education
J.D., Columbia Law School
B.A., University of Texas at Austin

Policy Analyst

Rebecca Dixon, Policy Analyst
rdixon@nelp.org
(202) 887-8202, ext. 363
Washington, D.C. office

Areas of Expertise:
Unemployment Insurance

Biography
Rebecca joined NELP in 2010. She is an experienced policy analyst whose work includes research, analysis, and advocacy in support of state and federal unemployment insurance reform. Prior to joining NELP, she worked as a policy analyst for the Mississippi Economic Policy Center where her focus was unemployment insurance and family economic security.

Education
J.D., Duke University School of Law
M.A., Duke University
B.A., Duke University

Staff Attorney

Haeyoung Yoon
hyoon@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 x315
New York City Office

Areas of Expertise
Immigrants and Work · Wage and Hour Protections · Enforcement of Workplace Standards

Biography
Haeyoung Yoon joined NELP in 2010. Prior to joining NELP, she was Executive Director of CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities and taught at the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the New York University School of Law. She has litigated on behalf of immigrants and low-wage workers to enforce labor standards and civil rights. She has also worked with worker centers and community groups for legislative and policy changes.

Education
J.D., City University of New York, School of Law
M.A., Harvard University
B.A., Barnard College, Columbia University

Policy Analyst

Christine Riordan
criordan@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 x302
New York City Office

Areas of Expertise
Labor Market Research and Unemployment Insurance

Biography
Christine joined NELP in 2008, where she conducts analysis on unemployment and job trends, and researches state and federal unemployment insurance policies. Prior to joining NELP, she worked as a labor researcher at NYU Wagner and as a labor organizer with UNITE HERE.

Education
M.U.P., Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles

Communications and Development Associate

Alona Sistrunk
asistrunk@nelp.org
(202) 887-8202 x365
Washington, D.C. Office

Biography
Alona joined NELP in 2009. She supports the Communications Director, Development Team and Web Team by conducting basic research, writing, and editing content to promote NELP's workers' rights advocacy efforts. Prior to this role, she served as NELP's DC Program Assistant, where she provided programmatic and administrative support to the Executive Director and Federal Advocacy Project.

Education
B.A., Howard University

Staff Attorney

Madeline Neighly
mneighly@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 ext. 328
New York, New York Office

Areas of expertise
Criminal Records and Employment

Biography
Madeline joined NELP in 2009. She works on eliminating unfair barriers to employment of people with criminal records.

Education
J.D., University of California, Berkeley School of Law
B.A., University of California, Berkeley

NELP 2009 Unemployment Insurance Reform Conference

On December 7-8, 2009, leaders from 40 states came together in Washington DC to build on the successes of the Recovery Act, and to chart an agenda for immediate and long-term policy agenda to benefit jobless workers. See below for informative materials from the conference.

From Rapid Response to Reemployment:
Robert Bower, Massachusetts AFL-CIO: Rapid Response
Louis Jacobson, Hudson Institute: Better Policies for Jobless Workers
Lynn Minnick, NELP:From Rapid Response to Reemployment: Better Policies for Jobless Workers

Challenging Employer Abuses that Cheat Workers and Trust Funds:
Deborah Chalfie, Change to Win: Change to Win: The American Dream for America’s Workers
Thomas Crowley, US Department of Labor: Employee Misclassification & Unemployment Insurance Audits
Joe Walsh, Iowa Workforce Development: Dealing with Uncooperative TPAs
Handout: Backgrounder: Worker Misclassification Cheats Everyone (Deborah Chalfie, Change to Win)

UI Administrative Infrastructure:

Honoring the Promises of Timely Payment of Benefits:
George Wentworth, NELP: Honoring the Promise of Timely Payment of UI Benefits
Handout: Honoring the Promises of Timely Payment of Benefits-Court Documents (Cynthia Rice, California Rural Legal Assistance)

Building a 21st Century Infrastructure:
Jim Garner, Kansas Department of Labor: Meeting the Needs of UI Claimants in “The Great Recession”
Joseph Vitale, National Association of State Workforce Agencies: Building a 21st. Century UI Infrastructure and Service Delivery System

Improving Access to State UI Benefits:
Nancy Dunphy, New York Department of Labor: NYS Practices to Reach Low Wage Workers

I was laid off in 1998. I was the manager of a new recycling yard in Prescott Valley, Az. I have run out of extensions and I am 2 months behind on my rent. My last check was for 170.00 in mid Feb. I was making around 400 a week at my job, and expected more as the business grew, so the 192 a week unemployment checks were less than half of my wage.
Have I been looking for work?..Of course I have!..any job, even McDonalds, would pay far better than unemployment...there are just no jobs here right now.
I have been forced to put my car up for sale which will make it even harder to find work!..
If a new extension doesn't come soon, I will be in a tent with a sick wife. I am 57 years old and my wife is 59 and homelessness at our age would not only be very hard, it would likely kill my wife.
I really don't know what to do at this point...I am recycling aluminum cans and we are living on about 40 dollars a week that this provides, plus food stamps....
We are only paying 350.00 per month for our small rental,
this includes utilities, so we are definitely not living beyond our means!..How do I tell my sick wife that we are losing the little that we have.
I have worked on ranches, in construction, managed 2 recycling yards, and cooked in restaurants. I never believed that a hard working, willing man would ever be in the situation we are now in.

Senior Staff Attorney

George Wentworth, Senior Staff Attorney
gwentworth@nelp.org
(860)257-8894
New York and Connecticut Offices

Areas of expertise
Unemployment Insurance – Enforcement of Workplace Standards

Biography
George Wentworth joined NELP in September, 2009 after 35 years of service with the Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL). As Director of Program Policy, he served as General Counsel to the Labor Commissioner for 20 years. In that role, George oversaw the development of all legal policy within the agency, supervised the agency’s in-house legal staff, coordinated regulatory activities and interpreted a wide range of workplace statutes. He was the chief drafter of Connecticut’s unemployment insurance (UI) regulations. At NELP, George works with state organizations advocating for strong unemployment insurance programs and has testified before a number of state legislatures. He has also been a part of NELP’s efforts to insure a meaningful federal response to the national crisis of long-term unemployment.

Selected Publications

“Unemployment Insurance Financing in Crisis: How Should States Respond to Trust Fund Insolvency” co-authored with Rick McHugh, Andrew Stettner & Mike Evangelist (NELP -May 2010)
“It’s Not a Recovery Without Jobs” co-authored with Christine Owens, Politico (September 28, 2010)
“Remembering the Unemployment Line” Huffington Post (November 30, 2010)

Education
J.D., University of Connecticut School of Law
B.A., St. Bonaventure University

Conference Logistics

THE CONFERENCE SITE

The conference will be held at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) School of Law. The campus can be easily reached by the Red Line off of the Van Ness-UDC Station.

Click here for directions to UDC

Click here for Metrorail map

Click here for the conference agenda with detailed campus map

HOTEL

We reserved 50 rooms at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC, at reduced rates. Call the Omni Shoreham Directly (202) 234-0700 to make your reservation. To take advantage of the reduced rates, you must reference the National Employment Law Project (NELP) when making your reservation (note: reduced rates are not assured after October 15). The Omni Shoreham is a union hotel located on 2500 Calvert Street NW (at Connecticut Ave.), off of the Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan stop on the Red Line. It is two train stops away from UDC, where the conference will be held. The distance is also walkable (1.5 miles).

Click here for the hotel website

Click here for map and directions to the hotel

TRAVEL

Conference participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements. The Omni Shoreham Hotel is 8 miles from Reagan National Airport and 30 miles from Dulles International Airport.

Wage Conference 2009

Reclaiming Our Wages:
A Conference on Organizing, Public Policy and Workers' Rights

November 6-7, 2009, University of the District of Columbia School of Law, Washington D.C.

Across the country, millions of workers are routinely paid less than the minimum wage, denied overtime pay, and retaliated against for speaking up. In the face of weak enforcement, growing numbers of employers ignore even the most basic laws governing wages. Making matters worse, some of these laws exclude the most vulnerable workers from protection, and immigration threats are increasingly being used to discourage workers from reporting violations and to stifle organizing efforts. These trends hurt workers, responsible employers, and the economy as a whole.

On November 6-7, 2009, the National Employment Law Project convened a two-day conference in Washington D.C., where more than 200 advocates from across the country discussed the ground-breaking ways in which they are working to expand wage and hour protections and strengthen enforcement. The conference highlighted recent organizing victories and promising policy models, and provided an opportunity for groups to strategize future work at both the local and federal level. It brought together diverse groups - immigrant worker centers and other community-based organizations, unions, faith-based groups, legal and policy advocates, applied researchers, and state and local government officials - all working to ensure the right to fair pay.

Agenda: Click here for the final agenda and here for the conference's steering committee.

Participant list: Click here for the full participant list, and here for presenter biographies.

Conference materials: Conference presentations and materials will be uploaded to NELP’s Wage and Hour Clearinghouse (www.just-pay.org); membership is free for non-profits.

For any questions, contact Telesh Lopez, conference coordinator at: wageconference@nelp.org, or at 212-285-3025, ext. 311.

This conference was generously supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the General Service Foundation, the Public Welfare Foundation, and the Solidago Foundation.

newsroom_test

NELP is frequently quoted in the media as an expert resource on a wide range of workplace issues. NELP experts are available to provide insights, analysis and data to the press. In addition, NELP disseminates new research and updates on policy developments. To be added to NELP's press list please email tim@berlinrosen.com.

Press Inquiries

For press inquiries only, please contact Tim Bradley at Berlin Rosen Communications at 646-452-5637 or tim@berlinrosen.com.*

Unemployment Insurance or Criminal Records: Maurice Emsellem, emsellem@nelp.org or (510) 663-5700.
Immigrants and Work: Rebecca Smith, rsmith@nelp.org or (360) 534-9160.
Wage Standards and Subcontracted Work: Cathy Ruckelshaus, cruckelshaus@nelp.org or (212) 285-3025 x 307.
Minimum and Living Wages: Paul Sonn, psonn@nelp.org or (212) 285-3025 x 351.
Research on Low Wage and Unregulated Work: Annette Bernhardt, abernhardt@nelp.org or (212) 285-3025 x 350.

* Worker inquiries should be directed to nelp@nelp.org or 212-285-3025.

WebSlips: NELP’s Web Request Page

1. Uploading a new document to the web (and posting associated "New at NELP")
1. a. Urgent Documents: Click here if the document needs to be uploaded within 1-6 hours. This form will also allow you to submit a New at NELP announcement for your document.
2. b. Non-Urgent Documents: Click here for non-urgent documents, which are uploaded twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This form will also allow you to submit a New at NELP announcement for your document.
2. Posting an announcement on “New at NELP” (without new document upload) or Media Picks
1. Click here to post Media Picks (video or images) or an announcement on New at NELP that does not involve a new document – for example, an announcement that links to a document already up on our website, or to another website (e.g. conference agenda). For an announcement that involves uploading a new document, choose one of the options under #1 above.
3. Adding or modifying text on a NELP web page

In order to change existing website text or add new text, follow these steps:
1. a. Copy the existing text from the webpage into a Word document.
2. b. Make your changes or additions in that document using redlining (the "track changes" function in Word)
3. c. Click here to send the document to the web team with the subject header “Web Request,” and make sure to give us the link for the webpage that you are modifying.
4. Reporting errors on our website, such as missing documents, broken links, etc.
1. Click here to email the web team with the subject header "Web Error."
To Contact NELP's Web Team on any other issue, email all of us at webteam@nelp.org

The site is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal advice

Materials on this website are published by NELP to provide visitors with free information regarding the laws and policies described. However, this website is not designed for the purpose of providing legal advice to individuals. Visitors should not rely upon information on this website as a substitute for personal legal advice. While we make every effort to provide accurate website information, laws can change and inaccuracies happen despite our best efforts. If you have an individual legal problem, you should seek legal advice from an attorney in your own state. If you have a suggestion or corrections, contact us at nelp@nelp.org.

Technical Support Request

Technical Support Request From

Changing Workforce / Changing Economy

intro text coming soon..

Chapter 1 - Low-wage Worker Access

Chapter 2 - Access for Women and Working Families

Chapter 3 - Eligibility for Nonstandard Workers

Chapter 4 - Build Income Security

Chapter 5 - Maximize Training Opportunities

Chapter 6 - Financing for Long-term Solvency

Chapter 7 - Accessibility and Fair Administration

Unregulated Work in the Global City

By Annette Bernhardt, Siobhan McGrath and James DeFilippis

Unregulated Work in the Global City was motivated by a simple premise: the many laws on the books to protect the working poor mean little if they are not enforced. Over three years of intensive research, we documented a city where jobs pay less than the minimum wage, and sometimes nothing at all; where employers do not pay overtime for 60-hour weeks, and deny meal breaks that are required by law; where vital health and safety regulations are routinely ignored, even after injuries occur; and where workers are subject to blatant discrimination, and retaliated against for speaking up or trying to organize.

Our research suggests that unregulated work is not confined to isolated, short-lived cases of exploitation at the fringe of the city's economy. Instead, the report finds that the systematic violation of federal, state and local law is threatening to become a way of doing business in major low-wage industries. It identifies the types of laws that employers are violating, the business strategies that result in violations, the workers who are most affected, and the policy changes that are needed to renew the promise of workplace protections. The report focuses on New York City, but we are convinced that the conditions it describes exist throughout the American economy.

Download the full report: click here

Download individual industry profiles:

Great Lakes Economic Revitalization Summit

Under construction

NELP Announces Merger with Brennan Center’s Economic Justice Project

Over the past year, the National Employment Law Project and our allies have begun to sense a new window of opportunity. Increasing economic anxiety and the growth of a progressive economic policy and organizing infrastructure have created the most significant opening in decades for new action to restore our nation's promise of economic opportunity and to protect working families in an era of globalization.

While we are excited about this historic moment, we also know that taking advantage of it requires capacity that matches opportunity. That is why I am delighted to announce that NELP is merging with the Economic Justice Project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School . Bringing the Brennan Center team into NELP greatly expands our capacity to deepen ties with grassroots and national partners, promote a broader and more comprehensive policy agenda, and strengthen our advocacy for low-wage and unemployed workers in Washington , the states and local communities.

The Brennan Center 's Economic Justice Project is led by two of our movement's leading thinkers, Dr. Annette Bernhardt and Paul Sonn. Paul is nationally recognized as a preeminent legal strategist for the living wage movement. By bringing his unparalleled expertise into NELP, the merger will enable us to integrate the Brennan Center 's crucial efforts to raise the wage floor into our broader employment agenda. Similarly, Annette is one of the nation's leading researchers and policy experts on issues related to low-wage and unregulated work. She will play an incomparable role in nurturing NELP's further development into a well rounded research and policy organization. They, along with the additional staff they bring with them into NELP, will enrich our work enormously.

Over the months and years ahead, the expanded NELP will take a comprehensive approach to the core problems of the 21st century labor market. Our agenda will include:

Restoring the wage floor through minimum wage advocacy at the federal, state and local levels;

Improving enforcement of workplace protections for the nation's most vulnerable workers, including immigrants and low-wage workers;

Promoting the creation of good jobs through accountable development;

Strengthening the social insurance systems designed to assist unemployed and displaced workers and boost economic growth; and

Reducing arbitrary barriers that curtail job opportunities for millions, including persons with criminal records.

In pursuing these goals, we will continue to use the strategy that has been a trademark of both organizations: policy innovation backed up by legal analysis and economic research, done in close partnership with community-based, state and national allies and government reformers.

With the added scale that the merger brings to NELP, we are positioned to become an even stronger voice for working families in every forum - from the media to the legislative arena to grassroots organizing campaigns. NELP's staff and board of directors are tremendously excited about what we will be able to accomplish with our new colleagues in the years ahead. I look forward to talking with you, our partners, in the coming months, as we develop plans for helping our nation seize this opportunity for change.

Sincerely,

Christine L. Owens
Executive Director

NELP Newsletters

NELP in the Media

“With Focus on Income Inequality, Albany Bill Will Seek $8.50 Minimum Wage,” New York Times, January 29, 2012

“We need jobs for level playing field,” CNN, January 25, 2012

“Virginia Legislature Latest To Advance Drug Testing The Poor And Unemployed,” Huffington Post, January 25, 2012

“A new day for the minimum wage?,” Fortune, January 24, 2012

“Mitt Romney: Minimum Wage Should Rise With Inflation,” Huffington Post, January 13, 2012

“Bloomberg Backs Effort to Raise Minimum Wage,” New York Times, January 12, 2012

“Wonkbook: 66 percent of Americans see 'serious conflict' between rich and poor,” Washington Post, January 11, 2012

“Cost of federal unemployment benefits so far: $434 billion,” CNN, December 5, 2011

“Signs of Hope in Jobs Report; Unemployment Drops to 8.6%,” New York Times, December 2, 2011

“Cutoff of extended benefits is looming,” Washington Post, December 2, 2011

“Health Care Workers On Verge Of Winning Equal Rights, Higher Pay,” Huffington Post, December 2, 2011

“Before Holidays, Congress Still Has Plenty To Do,” NPR, November 29, 2011

“Council Speaker Hears Sharp Debate on Wage Proposal,” New York Times, November 22, 2011

“Gingrich out on his own on child labor, for now,” Washington Post, November 22, 2011

“Job Discrimination Complaints Hit All-Time High,” Huffington Post, November 16, 2011

“Economy Creating Mostly Low-Paying Jobs,” US News & World Report, November 10, 2011

“Lower credit score may mean a good hire,” MSNBC, November 10, 2011

“Most Americans Support Raising Minimum Wage To Ten Dollars Per Hour, Survey Finds,” Huffington Post, November 9, 2011

“U.S. economy added 80,000 jobs in October, fewer than expected,” LA Times, November 4, 2011

“Herman Cain's Distrust Of Minimum Wage Goes Back To Restaurant Days,” Huffington Post, October 27, 2011

“Facing Hardship, Jobless Still Say They Have Hope,” New York Times, October 26, 2011

“California's unemployment insurance fund debt grows,” LA Times, October 24, 2011

“City pol fights to end bias against unemployed as more employers screen out jobless candidates,” New York Daily News, October 23, 2011

“NYC official: Unemployed face bias in job hunt,” Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2011

“Labor Advocates Won't Let Up Against Jobless Discrimination,” Huffington Post, October 19, 2011

“Democrats: Don't discriminate against unemployed,” CNN Money, October 19, 2011

“Deadline looms for Congress to cut deal on unemployment benefits,” The Hill, October 16, 2011

“Rick Scott Wants Mandatory Training For Jobless Benefits,” Huffington Post, October 13, 2011

“A new type of discrimination: the unemployed,” Ventura County Reporter, October 13, 2011

"Millions to Lose Unemployment Benefits if Congress Doesn’t Act," CNN Money, October 11, 2011

“Need to Know News: Millions to lose unemployment benefits if Congress doesn’t act,” CNN Piers Morgan Blog, October 11, 2011

“Obama’s Bill Would Hinder Work Search by Jobless, Langone Says,” Bloomberg, October 5, 2011

“Minimum Wage Goes Up in Four States,” Time, October 4, 2011

“Minimum wage to rise in eight states,” CNN, October 3, 2011

“Employers picking up the tab for loans to states,” Associated Press, October 3, 2011

“Minimum Wage Raised In Four States, Washington First To Top $9,” Huffington Post, October 3, 2011

“Amazon warehouse workers complain of harsh conditions,” LA Times, October 1, 2011

“Not getting by on minimum wage,” CNN Money, September 27, 2011

“A Tryout Program for the Unemployed,” New York Times, September 25, 2011

“Worker Activists Deliver Petitions Against Jobless Discrimination To Capitol Hill,” Huffington Post, September 21, 2011

“Democrats Back Bar on Discrimination Targeting Unemployed,” Bloomberg, September 21, 2011

“Mike Evangelist: State attacks its unemployed, again,” Lansing Journal, September 21, 2011

“The wrong help for the unemployed,” Chicago Tribune, September 21, 2011

“States, IRS to Join Probe of Home-Builder Pay Practices,” Wall Street Journal, September,17, 2011

“Rising poverty rate shows holes in safety net,” MSNBC, September 13, 2011

“Economic Check-Up Dismal for Many U.S. Families,” News Hour, September 13, 2011

“Could Obama’s jobs bill help end jobless benefits as we know them?,” Yahoo, September 13, 2011

“Obama’s bad jobs idea,” Washington Post, September 9, 2011

“Nikki Haley's Jobless Drug Test Claim Exaggerated,” Huffington Post, September 9, 2011

“Obama proposes sweeping changes to unemployment benefits,” CNN Money, September 9, 2011

“The Challenge of Creating Good Jobs,” New York Times, September 8, 2011

“Georgia jobs program gets bipartisan boost,” Associated Press, September 8, 2011

"Help wanted. But only if you have a job," Christian Science Monitor, September 8, 2011

“Georgia jobs program gets bipartisan boost,” The Associated Press, September 7, 2011

“Dismal jobs data shakes world markets,” The Associated Press, September 7, 2011

“Labor Day Reflection: Time for Americans to Participate in Power,” Huffington Post, September 6, 2011

“Unemployment benefit extension could fuel GOP cricticism of Obama,” Politico, September 6, 2011

“Dismal jobs data shakes Asian markets,” Business Week, September 6, 2011

“Key to economic recovery: higher wages,” Echo Press, September 5, 2011

“Dismal jobs data shakes world markets,” The Associated Press, September 4, 2011

“World markets shaken by dismal jobs data; tough market for job seekers when economy improves,” Associated Press, September 4, 2011

“White House adviser: ‘We have to do something on job growth now’,” Yahoo, September 3, 2011

“Raise minimum wage, make lives and economy better,” CNN International, September 2, 2011

“Raising job quality and wages to help fix jobs crisis,” Washington Post, September 2, 2011

“Eli Markham: Raising wages for a real recovery,” Augusta Free Press, September 2, 2011

“Higher minimum wage would stimulate economy without increasing federal deficit,” The Tennessean, September 2, 2011

“AFL-CIO Already Wary Of Possible Obama Job Proposal,” Huffington Post, September 2, 2011

“Georgia Jobs Program, Lauded By Obama, Has Critics,” NPR, September 2, 2011

“Obama Backs Bill Barring Discrimination Against Jobless,” New York Times, September 1, 2011

“In Jobless Data, Devil May Be In Details,” NPR, September 2, 2011

“Verizon Effect on Jobs Report Will Be Minimal,” CNBC, September 1, 2011

“Violations of Wage Laws Targeted in Crackdown, Solis Says,” Bloomberg, August 31, 2011

“Raising the minimum wage will help Main Street recover,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, August 31, 2011

“GUEST OPINION: Raising minimum wage for a real recovery,” The Herald News, August 30, 2011

“Obama praises Georgia jobs training program,” CNN Money, August 29, 2011

“Domestic Workers Struggle Now Like Women in "The Help",” New America Media, August 22, 2011

“How can Obama solve long-term unemployment?,” CNN Money, August 21, 2011

“5 key op-eds: Rich get richer; poor get poorer,” CNN, August 18, 2011

“Unemployment Discrimination: Who's Afraid To Hire The Jobless?,” Huffington Post, August 11, 2011

“Wariness, anxiety on Main Street threaten economic recovery,” LA Times, August 9, 2011,

“US unemployment fears hit ordinary Americans,” BBC, August 5, 2011

“Biggest threat to future? The jobs crisis,” CNN, August 4, 2011

“Unemployment benefits shrink in some states,” LA Times, August 4, 2011

“What the debt ceiling deal means for the unemployed,” Washington Post, August 1, 201

“Debt Ceiling Bill Will Do Nothing For Jobs,” Forbes, August 1, 2011

“Jobs Market Worst For Middle Class,” Time, July 28, 2011

“This Week’s Sobering Job News,” Forbes, July 28, 2011

“Where the Job Growth Is: At the Low End,” New York Times, July 27 2011

“High-pay jobs decline as low-pay jobs increase,” LA Times, July 27, 2011

"Long-term unemployed facing discrimination?," CBS News, July 27, 2011

“The Bias Against the Unemployed,” The New York Times, July 26, 2011

“Lower-paying jobs dominate recovery,” LA Times, July 26, 2011

“Recovery Job Growth Concentrated In Low-Paying Occupations,” Huffington Post, July 26, 2011

“Criminal Checks for U.S. Job Seekers Defended by Business Group,” Bloomberg, July 26, 2011

"Lowest earners falling further behind," Coastal Courier, July 26, 2011

"The Help-Wanted Sign Comes With a Frustrating Asterisk," The New York Times, July 25, 2011

“New Hampshire Minimum Wage Restricted By Republicans,” Huffington Post, June 23, 2011

“Boost minimum wage, boost U.S. economy,” The Tennessean, July 22, 2011

“A Fair Wage for Home Care Workers,” New York Times, July 20, 2011

“When companionship doesn't pay,” The Hill, July 13, 2011

“Employers Still Ruling Out Jobless Applicants: Report,” Huffington Post, July 12, 2011

"Somehow, the Unemployed Became Invisible,” New York Times, July 9, 2011

“Leaders in former auto powerhouse work through recovery process,” NW Times, July 9, 2011

“U.S. unemployment rate rises to 9.2%, raising doubts about recovery,” LA Times, July 8, 2011

“Job seekers get left out of the recovery,” CNN Money, July 8, 2011

“A duty to balance the gains and pains of free trade,” The Hill, July 8, 2011

“Laid off again? Can you get unemployment?,” MSN Money, July 8, 2011

“A duty to balance the gains and pains of free trade,” The Hill, July 8, 2011

“New Hampshire Minimum Wage Restricted By Republicans,” Huffington Post, June 23, 2011

“Wal-Mart Supreme Court Ruling Felt in Connecticut,” Public News Service (CT), June 23, 2011

“Wal-Mart Wins, Workers Lose in U. S. Supreme Court Decision Rejecting Class Action Discrimination Lawsuit,” Between The Lines (CT), June 22, 2011

“NetWorth: Internships usually must pay minimum wage,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 22, 2011

"Jobless-Benefit Cutoff Turns Lemons to Safety Net,” Bloomberg News, June 21, 2011

“Wal-Mart ruling seen as major victory for businesses,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 21, 2011

“Should having a criminal record affect employment?,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 2011

“N.J., Pa. act to cope with insolvency in unemployment funds” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 10, 2011

“Unemployment benefits fading away,” CNN, June 9, 2011

“Free trade agreements must include assistance to displaced U.S. workers,” Detroit Free Press, June 6, 2011

“Bev Perdue Issues Executive Order To Restore Unemployment Benefits In North Carolina,” Huffington Post, June 3, 2011

“Bleak teen jobs outlook: 25 percent unemployment and stiff competition,” Christian Science Monitor, June 3, 2011

“Strapped States Curb Spending on Safety Net,” Wall Street Journal, June 3, 2011

“Employers Probably Hired Fewer Workers in Latest Sign U.S. Economy Slowing,” Bloomberg, May 28, 2011

“Grocery Store Workers Go On Hunger Strike Over Stagnant Wages,” Huffington Post, May 28, 2011

“Christine Owens Says U.S. Jobs Market Is in `Deep Hole',” Washington Post, May 27,2011

“'I Played By The Rules' -- 'The Rules Have Changed',” Huffington Post, May 23, 2011

“Jobless Discrimination? When Firms Won't Even Consider Hiring Anyone Unemployed,” Time, May 23, 2011

“NY bill seeks to protect hotel staff,” Financial Times, May 23, 2011

“Living wage in practice in L.A.,” Crain’s New York Business, May 22, 2011

“Give New Yorkers a living wage: $10 per hour is only fair for subsidized development projects,” New York Daily News, May 20, 2011

“Unemployment Benefits: More States Eye Cuts,” Huffington Post, May 19, 2011

“Long-term jobless see reduction in benefits,” USA Today, May 17, 2011

“For Jobless, Florida Set To Become Stingiest State In America,” Huffington Post, May 11, 2011

“Republican Bill May Let States Cut Jobless Aid to Ease Taxes,” Bloomberg, May 10, 2011

“Florida to cut state unemployment benefits,” CNN, May 10, 2011

“Study Sets Off A Wage Battle,” Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2011

“Behind the Unemployment Number,” Forbes, May 6, 2011

“'JOBS Act' Introduced By House GOP To Help States Cut Jobless Aid,” Huffington Post, May 5, 2011

“Dems blast GOP bill to give states flexibility on unemployment funds,” The Hill, May 5, 2011

“Minimum Wage: Judge Says Florida Stiffed Its Workers,” Huffington Post, May 5, 2011

“Internet Lets a Criminal Past Catch Up Quicker,” New York Times, April 28, 2011

“SC gov plans jobless debt refinance, benefit cuts,” Forbes, April 28, 2011

“Most States Seen Raising Jobless Tax on Businesses,” New York Times, April 27, 2011

“McJobs an empty-calorie fix for unemployment,” CNN, April 27, 2011

“Paul LePage Voices Support For Loosening Maine's Child Labor Laws,” Huffington Post, April 25, 2011

“Study: Minimum wage increases don't negatively effect employment levels,” The Hill, April 25, 2011

“Minimum Wage Boost Wouldn't Hurt Job Growth: Study,” Huffington Post, April 25, 2011

“Is the nation headed for a McRecovery?,” Washington Post, April 23, 2011

“Extended Benefits: Confusion As Federal Jobless Aid Expires In Tennessee [UPDATE],” Huffington Post, April 22, 2011

"GOP looks to roll back child labor laws," Hardball with Chris Matthews, April 21, 2011

“The Barbell Economy,” Forbes, April 21, 2011

“McDonald’s is adding 50,000 jobs,” Washington Post, April 20, 2011

“Extended Unemployment Benefits Expire In These States Next,” Huffington Post, April 19, 2011

“Paul LePage Under Fire In New Ad For 'Roll Back' Of Child Labor Laws (VIDEO),” Huffington Post, April 19, 2011

“Broke U.S. States’ $48 Billion Debt Drives Unemployment Aid Cuts,” Bloomberg, April 15, 2011

“Record number of Americans get government help,” CNN Money, April 14, 2011

“Mo. Senate passes extension of jobless benefits,” Bloomberg, April 12, 2011

“Mo. Senate passes bill extending federal jobless benefits, cutting state-funded benefits,” Washington Post, April 11, 2011

“Missouri Following Michigan's Example On Cutting Unemployment Benefits,” Huffington Post, April 11, 2011

“Utah refuses to extend unemployment benefits,” Associated Press, April 9, 2011

“Mo. Senate embraces extension of federal jobless benefits while cutting state-funded payments,” Washington Post, April 7, 2011

“Retail sector adding jobs, but not always careers,” Associated Press, April 6, 2011

“Extended Unemployment Insurance Stopping Short In Several States,” Huffington Post, April 6, 2011

“Unemployed Need Not Apply: State Bans Want-Ad Ploy,” NPR, April 3, 2011

“Unemployment rate drops 0.1 percent, showing 'positive momentum' in job market,” Christian Science Monitor, April 1, 2011

“Jobs report is best in two years,” LA Times, April 1, 2011

“The bad news the US jobs figures hide,” BCC, April 1, 2011

“The Jobless See a Lifeline at Risk,” New York Times, March 31, 2011

“In Tough Economy, Mich. Targets Jobless Benefits,” NPR, March 30, 2011

“New Wage Theft Laws Protect Workers,” Huffington Post, March 29, 2011

“Michigan governor cuts jobless benefits for 2012,” USA Today, March 29, 2011

“Michigan Cuts Jobless Benefit by Six Weeks,” New York Times, March 28, 2011

“Michigan Becomes First State To Curtail Jobless Aid,” Huffington Post, March 28, 2011

“More states could cut down jobless benefits,” Marketplace, March 28, 2011

“Triangle Shirtwaist Co. Factory Fire's Legacy Under Threat,” Huffington Post, March 25, 2011

"Criminal Background Checks Upend Job Search For Some Unemployed," Huffington Post, March 24, 2011

“Help wanted — sixty-five million need not apply,” Yahoo News, March 23, 2011

“Is AOL Skirting Worker-Protection Law With Mass Layoff?,” Forbes, March 17, 2011

“It's time for Speaker Christine Quinn to do the right thing by workers,” New York Daily News, March 16, 2011

“Where's the economic recovery?,” Washington Post, March 9, 2011

“A Faith-Biased Decision,” New York Times, March 4, 2011

“Jobless? More Employers Say You Need Not Apply,” ABC News, March 4, 2011

“Missouri May Reject Extending Jobless Benefits,” NPR, March 4, 2011

"Quote of the Day," Washington Post, February 28, 2011

“US Economy Trades High-Paying Jobs For Low-Paying Positions,” Huffington Post, February 24, 2011

“Higher-Paying Jobs Lost, but Lower-Paying Jobs Gained,” New York Times, February 23, 2011

“Report: Job growth concentrated in low- to mid-wage industries,” The Hill, February 23, 2011

“On Obama jobs tour, unemployed have little voice,” Washington Post, February 23, 2011

“At Grave Risk,” Op-ed New York Times, February 21, 2011

“Businesses are refusing to hire the unemployed, commission told,” LA Times, February 17, 2011

“Bias Against the Unemployed Is Subject of Probe,” Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2011

“Need a job? Best to start by having one,” The Economist, February 17, 2011

“Bias Against the Unemployed Is Subject of Probe,” Wall Street Journal, February 16, 2011

“Employers Rejecting Unemployed Job Applicants, U.S. Agency Told,” Bloomberg, February 16, 2011

“Are companies not hiring unemployed people?,” USA Today, February 16, 2011

“Florida Representative Kathleen Passidomo Introduces New Unemployment Legislation,” Huffington Post, February 15, 2011

"Why Wages Can't Wait This Valentine's Day,” Huffington Post, February 11, 2011

“Worker benefits slated to expire,” Chicago Tribune, February 11, 2011

“State spent $90 million a day on unemployment benefits,” Los Angeles Times, February 10, 2011

“3.9 Million Americans Ran Out Of Unemployment Benefits In 2010: Report,” Huffington Post, February 10, 2011

“Jobless Should 'Be Really Careful' With Staffing Agencies, Says Legal Expert,” Huffington Post, February 10, 2011

“Obama looks to help states with jobless aid,” CNN Money, February 9, 2011

“White House proposes unemployment aid for states,” Reuters, February 8, 2011

“Nine States Spurn Stimulus Funds Designed to Help Unemployed,” Yahoo, February 8, 2011

“Layoffs Become Rarer Even With Unemployment High,” The Associated Press, February 7, 2011

“Nine states don't give maximum unemployment benefits: Does yours?,” Christian Science Monitor, February 7, 2011

"January jobless rate falls to 9%,” Pittsburg Post-Gazette, February 5, 2011

“Jobs Report Offers a Mixed Bag, but Little Comfort,” New York Times, February 4, 2011

"Ignored but Important - What Omitted Jobs Data means for Stocks,” NASDAX, February 4, 2011

“Manpower Beats Street Estimates,” CNBC, February 2, 2011

“When an 8-Hour Day Earns You $4.38,” Time, February 1, 2011

“Jobs are back! But the pay stinks,” CNN Money, January 31, 2011

“Jobs for the Future | Confusion, low pay keep some on jobless aid,” Louisville Courier-Journal, January 29, 2011

“It’s payback time on unemployment fund,” Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, January 25, 2011

“Unemployment law overhaul stalls SC jobless checks,” Associated Press, January 18, 2011

“Is state's unemployment program too generous?,” Gannett, January 14, 2011

“Reduced Wage,” City Hall, January 14, 2011

“The Ins And Outs Of Collecting Unemployment,” NPR, January 13, 2011

“Gobernador Scott reaviva temores entre inmigrantes,” La Prensa, January 13, 2011

“Nonprofits Sue Florida on Minimum Wage,” Nonprofit Quarterly, January 12, 2011

“State bills unemployed worker over benefits,” Houston Chronicle, January 12, 2011

“The Most Persistent Myth About The Unemployment Rate,” Huffington Post, January 11, 2011

“Low-wage workers sue Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation for not raising minimum wage,” Florida Independent, January 11, 2011

“Minimum Wage Dispute,” Capitol News Service, January 11, 2011

“Florida sued for failing to raise minimum wage,” Associated Press, January 10, 2011

“The Unemployed Online,” New York Times’ Economix blog, January 10, 2011

“Minimum Wage Workers In Florida Are Getting Short Changed,” Huffington Post, January 10, 2011

“Groups sue state over minimum wage,” Orlando Sentinel, January 10, 2011

“In Lawsuit, Florida Workers Fight For Minimum Wage Boost,” Dow Jones, January 10, 2011

“Weak Hiring Casts a Cloud,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2011

“Slow Job Growth Dims Expectation of Early Revival,” New York Times, January 7, 2011

“Jobs report reveals discouraged workers giving up job hunt,” Marketplace, January 7, 2011

“Workers, economies gain with wage boost,” Missoulian, January 6, 2011

“Vermont's minimum wage bumps up to $8.15 an hour,” Burlington Free Press, January 4, 2011

“Minimum wage earners in 7 states getting raises,” Associated Press, January 1, 2011

“Minimum wage up 10 cents to $7.35,” Arizona Daily Star, January 1, 2011

“New laws in new year will affect pocketbooks,” Oregon Register Guard, December 31, 2010

“Minimum wage set to rise in seven states,” MarketWatch, December 30, 2010

“Judge Rejects Request to Stop State’s Minimum Wage Increase,” Associated Press, December 30, 2010

“Ohio Minimum Wage to Go Up 10 Cents Next Week,” The Plain Dealer, December 30, 2010

“Job prospects remain grim for 2011,” Chicago Tribune, December 29, 2010

“State Minimum Wage Increases Could Boost Stalled Federal Push,” Fox News, December 28, 2010

“In New Year, seven states to hike minimum wage,” Stateline, December 27, 2010

“Job Creation Happening Faster than in Other Recessions,” The Hill, December 26, 2010

“Minimum Wage Hike Boosts Economy,” Times Argus (VT), December 26, 2010

“Unemployment Checks Resume For Some Jobless While Others Go Without For Holidays,” Huffington Post, December 21, 2010

“Employers' burden could surge,” McClatchy, December 21, 2010

“For ‘99ers,’ tough road ahead,” MarketWatch, December 21, 2010

“Seven States To Raise Minimum Wage For 2011,” Huffington Post, December 21, 2010

“Americans made less in 2009; minimum wage set to rise in seven states,” LA Times’ Money & Company blog, December 21, 2010

“Seven states to boost minimum wage,” CNN Money, December 21, 2010

“New protections for employees,” Press-Republican, December 21, 2010

“Ariz. minimum wage to rise 10 cents,” Arizona Republic, December 21, 2010

“Are The Long-Term Unemployed Saved Or Screwed?,” Huffington Post, December 17, 2010

“Factbox: Key components of Obama's tax bill,” Reuters, December 17, 2010

“Workers’ Safeguards Strengthened by N.Y. Law,” New York Times, December 13, 2010

“States, feds crack down on firms using 'contract workers',” USA Today, December 13, 2010

“Long-Term Unemployment Means 'There Are No Weekends Anymore',” Huffington Post, December 13, 2010

“Paterson signs wage-protection bill into law,” Associated Press, December 13, 2010

“More than 1 million lose unemployment benefits while Congress works on tax bill,” The Hill, December 13, 2010

“You don't want to be unemployed in Vermont,” CNN Money, December 9, 2010

“Unemployment benefits to run out Saturday for 185,000 Californians,” LA Times, December 9, 2010

“Unions Want Limits on Firms' Use of Contractors,” Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2010

“Study slams truck driver misclassifications,” Contra Costa Times, December 8, 2010

“‘Estamos a la buena de Dios’,” La Opinion, December 8, 2010

“White House Defends Lopsided Unemployment-For-Tax-Cuts Deal,” Huffington Post, December 7, 2010

“Democrats pleased with jobless benefits extension but mulling over tax-cut package,” The Hill, December 7, 2010

“Two Years Of Tax Cuts For One Year Of Unemployment Benefits?,” Huffington Post, December 6, 2010

“Desperate times for millions: No jobs, no benefits,” CNN.com, December 6, 2010

“Jobless benefits: 285,000 Texans face cutoff,” Dallas Morning News, December 6, 2010

“Workers, supporters rally in New Haven for fair wages,” New Haven Register, December 5, 2010

“Jobless, nearly hopeless,” Arizona Daily Star, December 5, 2010

“Jobless rate undercuts signs of recovery, rises to 9.8 percent,” Washington Post, December 4, 2010

“Increased jobless rate casts benefits fight in new light,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 4, 2010

“Jobless rate takes turn for worse,” Pittsburg Post-Gazette, December 4, 2010

“Few New Jobs as Jobless Rate Rises to 9.8%,” New York Times, December 3, 2010

“Millions Bracing for Cutoff of Unemployment Checks,” New York Times, December 3, 2010

“WH pushes for action on jobless benefits,” MSNBC, December 3, 2010

“Barack Obama, economy stuck in a ditch,” Politico, December 3, 2010

"Long-Term Unemployed Debate Their Next Move,” NPR, December 3, 2010

“Reaction to payrolls, unemployment data,” MarketWatch, December 3, 2010

“U.S. unemployment rate rises to 9.8 percent as hiring slows,” Star Ledger, December 3, 2010

“State Legislature OKs Savino-sponsored wage-protection bill,” Staten Island Advance, December 2, 2010

“Answers to questions about unemployment benefits,” USA Today, December 2, 2010

“Benefits to end for 107,500 Floridians, group says,” Miami Herald, December 2, 2010

“How to know when your jobless benefits will run out,” LA Times, December 1, 2010

“Stocks rally on strong U.S. data, Portugal bond sale,” Washington Post, December 1, 2010

“Assembly passes wage boosts for workers,” Crain’s NY Business, December 1, 2010

“Stealing Immigrants' Wages in New York,” Village Voice, December 1, 2010

“For jobless '99ers,' holidays are about surviving,” Associated Press, December 1, 2010

“Unemployment Benefits To Stop For Many By Holidays,” CBS New York, December 1, 2010

“Congress cut off jobless,” New York Post, December 1, 2010

“Unemployment Benefits Expire After Extension Bid Fails in Senate,” ABC News, December 1, 2010

“Unemployment checks to 2 million will stop without action,” USA Today, December 1, 2010

“No More Help for the Long-Term Unemployed,” ABC Nightly News, November 30, 2010

“Cut-off of Jobless Aid Would Lower Economic Growth,” Associated Press, November 30, 2010

“Millions Face Loss of Unemployment Benefits,” ABC News, November 30, 2010

“Tempers Flare At Kentucky Unemployment Office As Benefits Expire For Thousands,” Huffington Post, November 30, 2010

“Thousands In Mass. Face Expiration Of Unemployment Benefits,” WBUR, November 30, 2010

“Glance: A Look At Jobless Aid Set To Expire,” Associated Press, November 30, 2010

“Half a million California job seekers prepare to lose benefits,” San Jose Mercury News, November 30, 2010

“As Midnight Deadline Looms, Long-Term Unemployed Face Loss of Benefits,” AOL, November 30, 2010

“The End of Unemployment?,” WNYC, November 30, 2010

“The Unemployed Held Hostage, Again,” New York Times, November 29, 2010

“Unemployment Benefits Expire Soon,” Wisconsin Public Radio/Fox 21, November 29, 2010

“Jobless benefits may run out soon for many Floridians,” Palm Beach Post, November 28, 2010

“Remembering the stigma of the unemployment line,” The Day (opinion), November 28, 2010

“After holiday, lawmakers have two days to make unemployment benefits deal,” The Hill, November 25, 2010

“Jobless worry about cutoff of federal benefits,” Star Tribune, November 25, 2010

“Wages belong to the workers,” Albany Times Union, November 24, 2010

“Congress's Unemployment Limbo 'A Terrible, Terrible Thing',” Huffington Post, November 24, 2010

“Holiday cheer: Congress set to let jobless benefits expire,” McClatchy, November 23, 2010

“Will Congress Turn Its Back on Jobless Americans?,” The Nation, November 23, 2010

“Summit Agenda.

Rapid Response, Peer Networks, Early Warning Programs and Layoff Aversion

Many states in the region are working to implement better practices in the core workforce development programs, including more effective rapid response, using peer networks and labor management committees. Many states in this region and elsewhere are interested in expanding beyond these core dislocated worker programs by establishing early warning networks and layoff aversion programs based upon the model developed by Pennsylvania's Steel Valley Authority. Presentations from the conference included Federal Requirements and Best Practices in Rapid Response and SVA Early Warning Networks and Layoff Aversion.

Manufacturing Revitalization and Retention

The conference included presentations by Stephen Herzenberg, Keystone Research Center, Bob Baugh, Director of AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, Dan Swinney, Center for Labor and Community Research, and economist Sue Helper, of Case Western, author of a recent Economic Policy Institute paper on manufacturing policy.

Regional Cooperation on Federal Issues and Economic Development

A goal of many summit participants and policy partners is to increase communication and cooperation among manufacturing states in the Great Lakes region. Topics for potential cooperation include: (1) working with other states in our region to develop and promote a federal manfacturing and regional economic development agenda, (2) developing better information and data on regional supply chains, labor markets, and firms to assist states and the region in grappling with these issues, and (3) increasing the use of best practices in workforce and economic development with better information sharing and cooperation among states in the region. To explore these and other emerging regional issues, several conference participants have agreed to continue working together on these topics.

For more information regarding our follow up efforts, contact Andy Stettner, Deputy Director, National Employment Law Project at astettner@nelp.org.

See also our work in the area of economic and workforce development, including additional publications and links of interest to those concerned with economic revitalization.

Close the Gaps in the Unemployment Insurance system

Extended Jobless Benefits

Normal state unemployment benefits are capped at 26 weeks of assistance. During tough economic times, the federal government steps in to provide extended benefits to long-term unemployed workers who need additional assistance to find jobs. Federal jobless benefits are vital to helping jobless workers and their families avoid the severe economic distress that comes with long-term unemployment.

When the economy slips into recessions, federal extended benefits circulate hard cash into local economies where local businesses lose customers due to job loss. In fact, economists have found that extended unemployment benefits provide one of deliver one of the strongest dollar-for-dollar stimulus of any government responses to recessions.

During the “Great Recession” of 2009, the spotlight has been on federal extended benefits. Please look to the right column for NELP’s latest information on extended jobless benefits.

NELP’s web portal www.unemployedworkers.org provides extensive information for workers and the latest NELP advocacy initiatives to improve the extended benefits program in the states and in Congress.

For updates on NELP’s Fall 2009 Campaign to Extend Jobless Benefits Visit: http://www.unemployedworkers.org/sites/unemployedworkers/index.php/benefits

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Maurice Emsellem, memsellem@nelp.org.

Last Year for States to Modernize Unemployment Insurance with Recovery Act Incentive Funds

In February 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) made $7 billion available to states to modernize their unemployment insurance programs. Since that time, both red and blue states have claimed nearly two-thirds of the total incentive funding, thus filling the gaps in the unemployment safety net while also helping to jump start their economies. However, time is running out fast to take advantage of the federal program. States only have until August 2011 to change their laws to qualify for the Recovery Act funds.

As a result of the reforms thus far adopted by the states, over 200,000 additional jobless Americans will have gained eligibility for benefits through the ARRA unemployment modernization program. These federal modernization funds have been making their way to the states just when they need the help most—to pay benefits, boost state unemployment trust funds and help more jobless families weather an extremely difficult jobs market.

Although a total of 39 states can now claim $4.3 billion in incentive funding, $2.7 billion remains unclaimed by the states with less than a year to go before the program expires. Eighteen states, including six that have already claimed one-third of their allotment of incentive funds, have so far left funds on the table. These funds provide states with a critical opportunity to bring their 1930’s era unemployment insurance programs in line with needs of today’s changing workforce

The map below documents the status of modernization funding: 33 states have moved to get full funding; 6 have draw down partial fundng and 12 that have not qualified for any of their allotment.

UI Modernization Map

State Legislative Updates

NEW September 3, 2010 NELP report documents unprecedented bi-partisan wave of unemployment insurance reforms in 2009 and 2010

Learn More about the Unemployment Insurance Modernization
Read NELP's fact sheet on Unemployment Insurance Modernization (updated December 2010)
What is my state's Unemployment Insurance Modernization Amount?

Resources for your state Unemployment Modernization campaign
Introduce legislation in your state implementing the UI Modernization (Updated February 18, 2010)
NELP Model Language for Unemployment Insurance Modernization Provisions
Find U.S. Department of Labor Answers to the most commonly asked questions about implementing the Alternative base period
Find U.S. Department of Labor Answers to the most commonly asked questions about implementing the other modernization provisions

UI Modernization Webinar: NELP PowerPoint

UI Modernization Webinar: DOL PowerPoint

Building a Modern Unemployment Program for North Dakota’s New Workforce

US Department of Labor Guidance on UI Modernization and other ARRA Provisions
UI Program Letter 32-09 " U.S. Department of Labor explains how states can still use modernization grants for administrative purposes.
UI Program Letter 27-09 (January 29, 2010) The U.S. Department of Labor encourages states to apply for UI incentive funds.
UI Program Letter 14-09 (November 30, 2009) US Department of Labor provides background advisory on Unemployment Modernization and other UI-related Recovery Act programs

Broad Spectrum of Groups Support the UIMA
Read about the broad support for UI modernization
Women's advocates strongly support modernization
Governors show Bipartisan support of Unemployment Insurance Modernization

UIMA in the News
“About-Face: More States Accept Stimulus Funds,” NPR, August 17, 2010
"Anti-Stimulus Crusader Mark Sanford Quietly Accepts Funds He Pledged To Reject,” Think Progress, August 11, 2010
“RI to get more than $15.6M for unemployment aid,” Associated Press, August 9, 2010
“State labor secretary lobbying for changes to modernize unemployment program,” Scranton Times Tribune, May 14, 2010
“Md. gets $127 million for unemployment fund,” Baltimore Sun, May 7, 2010
“Neb. goes after jobless aid,” Omaha World-Journal, April 9, 2010
“Democrats Aim to Boost Benefits,” Journal Gazette, February 18, 2010
“Unemployment Insurance: Updating Virginia’s System” Richmond Times Dispatch, February 17, 2010
“Va. Senate Favors Accepting Stimulus Jobless Funds,” Richmond Times Dispatch, February 10, 2010
“Stimulus Funds for Jobless?,” Omaha World Herald, February 8, 2010
“Unemployment Benefits Extended to Those Whose Spouse Relocates,” Denver Post, January 31, 2010
“Fed Money Available for Ala. Unemployed,” Birmingham Business Journal, January 29, 2010
"Schwarzenegger Agrees to Federal Conditions to Bolster Unemployment Fund," LA Times, February 25, 2009
"Stimulus Bill Would Bestow New Aid to Many Workers" New York Times, Feb. 14, 2009
"Stimulus would bring welcome relief to California," Los Angeles Times, January 28, 2009
"Not your grandfather's workforce, but it's still his unemployment insurancesystem,"Salem (OR) News, January 24, 2009
"States urged to help more jobless workers," Stateline.org, January 21, 2009

Editorial pages support UI modernization
“Unemployment Insurance Deal is Good for Business,” Baltimore Sun, March 1, 2010 (editorial)
"Right Approach to State Aid," The New York Times, March 1, 2009 (editorial)
"What Part of ‘Stimulus' Don't They Get?" New York Times, Feb. 24, 2009 (editorial)
"The Governors and Handouts" The Baltimore Sun, February 24, 2009(editorial)
"Take the Stimulus Money," Charleston Post and Courier, February 24, 2009 (editorial)

Support NELP

Why NELP?

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) is dedicated to improvingconditions for workers across America and to protecting working families from the vagaries of the global economy. Since NELP's government funding was eliminated in 1994, we have depended on the generosity of foundations,individual and institutional donors. Your donations will enable NELP to:

· restore the minimum wage to its historic level - and make sure every worker is paid what they are due;

· ensure that millions of jobless workers access the income support and retraining they need to get back on their feet;

· push for model policies that raise the quality of jobs throughout our economy, and;

· eliminate barriers to employment opportunities faced by individuals with criminal records, immigrants and others locked out by discriminatory laws and practices.

Read more about NELP's recent work in our 2010 Annual Report.

How to donate

The National Employment Law Project is a 501(c)(3) organization, and contributions to NELP are deductible to the full extent of the law. Please donate generously to NELP by clicking here or by sending a check to:

National Employment Law Project
75 Maiden Lane,
Suite 601
New York,NY 10038

Make a cy-pres award to NELP:
In recent months, several law firms have designated unclaimed workers'rights judgments to NELP to keep fighting the underlying issues at stake intheir cases. To learn more about making a cy pres award to NELP and its National Wage and Hour Clearinghouse, please click here.

Don't just take our word for it:
"Millions of low wage workers suffer from substandard wages, unstable employment or mistreatment at their jobs. By securing core employmentprotections, NELPis at the forefront of efforts to help low income families succeed in the workplace." Peter Edelman, Georgetown University LawCenter

"With the help of NELP we were able to negotiate an unemployment bill that protected eligibility and increased benefits significantly at a time when ourfund was insolvent." Herb Johnson, Missouri AFL-CIO State Labor Federation

"Immigrants perform indispensable work for the economic and culturalwealth throughout the nation, but face blatant abuse every day. NELP provides the legal expertise that immigrant organizing groups need to effectively defend the labor and human rights of our communities. In this relationship, NELP has aprofound sense of respect for the decisions that workers and their organizersmake." Pablo Alvarado, National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

Thank you

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Get Updates

NELP advances workers' rights by partnering with people like you – individual workers, policymakers, unions, community groups, worker centers, legal advocates, state public policy advocates, government agencies and immigrant rights organizations – who have a shared concern for the rights of worrkers. So, get involved!

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Join Our Listservs

We also host a variety of e-mail discussion groups aimed at lawyers, researchers, and other advocates working in our fields:

Immigrant Employment Rights Discussion Group: Protecting the employment and labor rights of immigrant workers in low-wage industries.
Subscribe to Listserv: nelp-immigemplrights-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Contact NELP: immigrant@nelp.org, nonstandard@nelp.org

UI Advocates Discussion Group: Promoting unemployment insurance (UI) reform benefiting low-wage workers, women, and part-time workers, including discussions of state-based advocacy strategies, tactics, and resource needs.
Subscribe to Listserv: nelp-uiadvocates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Contact NELP: unemployment@nelp.org

Criminal Records Discussion Group: Reducing barriers to employment of people with conviction histories, with a focus on federal, state, and local policy reforms and strategies to enforce civil rights and consumer protection laws that apply to criminal background checks.
Subscribe to Listserv: nelp-criminalrecords-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

WIA Advocates: Discussing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), job training, rapid response, and dislocated worker programs, including Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Subscribe to Listserv: nelp-wiaadvocates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Employment Rights Discussion Group: Fostering communication among legal services advocates for low-wage workers.
Subscribe to Listserv: nelp-employmentrights-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

National Wage & Hour Clearinghouse
For more information, please visit: http://www.just-pay.org.
Contact NELP: wagehour@nelp.org

Jobs

2012 Summer Legal Interns

NELP is currently hiring for its 2012 summer legal internship program. To learn more about how to apply, click here.

TAA Coordinator

Lindsay Webb, TAA Coordinator
lwebb@nelp.org
(734) 369-5615
Ann Arbor, Michigan Office

Areas of expertise
Dislocated Worker Programs (Trade Adjustment Assistance)

Biography
Lindsay Webb joined NELP in 2006, where she advocates for dislocated workers in the manufacturing sector in the Midwest. Her experience with the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program began at the United Auto Workers Legal Department, where she worked as a law clerk filing TAA petitions for certification and helping to organize post-certification worker rights and responsibilities meetings. Lindsay also serves as an elected member of the Toledo City Council.

Education
J.D., University of Toledo College of Law
B.A., University of Toledo

Dislocated Worker Facilitator

Lorene Randall, Dislocated Worker Facilitator
lrandall@nelp.org
(810) 265-5596
Ann Arbor, Michigan Office

Areas of Expertise
Economic and Workforce Development

Biography
Lorene joined NELP in 2008 after working with AFL-CIO Michigan Human Resources Development Inc. as a Peer Counselor assisting with TAA/TRA. As a Training Specialist she worked with various unions assisting with leadership development and diversity training. She is involved with Flint Area Churches Together and other grassroots organizations. Her goal is to ensure that workers are equipped with knowledge and training for the future.

Education
Graduate: Wayne State School of Labor and Michigan State University School of Labor and Industrial Relations

Policy Analyst

Diana Polson, Policy Analyst
dpolson@nelp.org
212-285-3025 ext 353
New York City

Areas of expertise
Labor Market Research

Biography
Diana Polson joined NELP in 2008 with the rest of the Economic Justice team from the Brennan Center for Justice. She is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at CUNY Graduate Center with a particular focus on low-wage work, poverty and new forms of community-labor organizing. Previously, Diana has been an organizer around economic justice issues and has provided research assistance for both a study on comparative working time policy and the use of human rights in New York City. At NELP, she is the Survey Project Coordinator for a study on the growth of workplace violations in low-wage industries in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Education
M.A., CUNY Graduate Center
B.A., University of Virginia

Workforce Development Specialist

Lynn Minick, Workforce Development Specialist
lminick@nelp.org
(317) 838-9220
Indianapolis, Indiana Office

Areas of expertise
Economic and Workforce Development · Rapid Response and Economic Dislocation Services

Biography
Lynn Minick joined NELP in 2006, after working for nearly 20 years promoting workforce development and training initiatives with the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute and the Indiana AFL-CIO Labor Institute for Training. Since joining NELP, he has participated in NELP's Economic Adjustment Initiative, focusing on dislocated workers in Midwest states suffering from layoffs in the auto industry. Lynn collaborates with these states to promote innovative models of rapid response, including layoff aversion, and to increase access to training and other services provided by the Trade Adjustment Assistance program and the Workforce Investment Act. He was a member of the International Association of Machinists for over 33 years and is currently a member of the NELP Staff Association, NOLSW, UAW, LOCAL 2320.

Education
Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (toward B.A.)

Selected Publications

·    What to Do When the Layoff Notice Arrives (AFL-CIO Working for America Institute: 2002)

·    Helping Government Help Dislocated Workers (AFL-CIO Working for America Institute: 2002)

·    What Every Union Leader in the Building Trades Needs to Know About the Workforce Investment Act (Connections, AFL-CIO Working for America Institute: 2002)

·    Basics: Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (AFL-CIO Working for America Institute: 2001)

Staff Attorney

Sarah Leberstein, Staff Attorney
sleberstein@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 ext. 313
New York City Office

Areas of expertise
Care Giving Workforce • Enforcement of Workplace Standards • Nonstandard Workforce • Wage and Hour Protections

Biography
Sarah joined NELP in 2008 on a two-year Equal Justice Works fellowship. Sarah works with community based organizations, worker centers and unions to enforce and expand labor rights for home health care, domestic, and child care workers. She also advocates for policy reforms promoting the workplace rights of non-standard workers and enforcement of wage and hour and workplace laws. Prior to law school she worked as an organizer for the Service Employees International Union.

Education
J.D., Fordham Law School
B.A., Wesleyan University

Staff Attorney

Tsedeye Gebreselassie
tgebreselassie@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 ext. 314
New York City Office

Areas of expertise
Living Wage and Minimum Wage • Immigrants and Work

Biography
Tsedeye joined NELP in 2008. She works on researching, developing and promoting policies that raise job standards for all workers. Prior to law school, she worked as an organizer for New York’s Working Families Party.

Education
J.D., New York University School of Law
B.A., Brown University

Staff List

Rebecca Andruszka, Development Director

Bukola Ashaolu, Information Technology Systems Manager

Annette Bernhardt, Policy Co-Director (on leave as Russell Sage Fellow through 6/2012)
Areas of expertise: Labor Market Research • Enforcement of Workplace Standards • Immigrants and Work • Economic and Workforce Development

Deborah Buchanan-Taylor, Senior Office and Database Administrator

Anastasia Christman, Senior Policy Analyst

Judy Conti, Federal Advocacy Coordinator
Areas of expertise: Unemployment Insurance • Criminal Records and Employment • Enforcement of Workplace Standards • Civil Rights

Rebecca Dixon, Policy Analyst
Areas of expertise: Unemployment Insurance

Maurice Emsellem, Policy Co-Director
Areas of expertise: Criminal Records and Employment • Unemployment Insurance

Norman Eng, Communications Director

Michael Evangelist, Policy Analyst
Areas of expertise: Unemployment Insurance • Economic and Workforce Development

Tsedeye Gebreselassie, Staff Attorney
Areas of expertise: Living Wage and Minimum Wage • Immigrants and Work

Mitchell Hirsch, Web and Campaign Associate
Areas of expertise: Unemployment Insurance

Eunice Hyunhye Cho, Skadden Fellow
Areas of expertise
Immigrants and Work • Enforcement of Workplace Standards

Jen Kern, Minimum Wage Campaign Coordinator
Areas of expertise: Minimum Wage and Living Wage • Campaign Assistance

Patricia J. Kozu, Managing Director, Finance & Administration

Sarah Leberstein, Staff Attorney
Areas of expertise: Care Giving Workforce • Enforcement of Workplace Standards • Nonstandard Workforce • Wage and Hour Protections

Rick McHugh, Staff Attorney & Midwest Coordinator
Areas of expertise: Dislocated Worker Programs (Trade Adjustment Assistance) • Unemployment Insurance • Minimum Wage and Living Wage

Claire McKenna, Policy Analyst
Areas of expertise: Unemployment Insurance

Manny Mercado, Senior Finance & Administrative Specialist

Lynn Minick, Workforce Development Specialist
Areas of expertise: Economic and Workforce Development • Rapid Response and Economic Dislocation Services

Michelle Natividad Rodriguez, Staff Attorney
Areas of expertise: Criminal Records and Employment

Madeline Neighly, Staff Attorney
Areas of expertise: Criminal Records and Employment

Christine L. Owens, Executive Director
Areas of expertise: Living Wage & Minimum Wage • Labor Market Research • Workplace Equity

Lorene Randall, Dislocated Worker Facilitator
Areas of expertise: Economic and Workforce Development

Christine Riordan, Policy Associate
Areas of expertise: Labor Market Research • Unemployment Insurance

Catherine Ruckelshaus, Legal Co-Director
Areas of expertise: Immigrants and Work • Enforcement of Workplace Standards • Nonstandard Workforce • Wage and Hour Protections

Steffan Samlal, IT Assistant

Alona Sistrunk, Communications & Development Associate

Rebecca Smith, Coordinator, Immigrant Worker Justice Project
Areas of expertise: International Human and Labor Rights • Immigrants and Work • Enforcement of Workplace Standards • Unemployment Insurance

Paul Sonn, Legal Co-Director
Areas of expertise: Minimum Wage and Living Wage • Economic and Workforce Development

Anne Thompson, Policy Analyst
Area of expertise: Living and Minimum Wages

Lindsay Webb, TAA Coordinator
Areas of expertise: Trade Adjustment Assistance • Dislocated Worker Programs

George Wentworth, Senior Staff Attorney
Areas of expertise: Unemployment Insurance • Enforcement of Workplace Standards

Haeyoung Yoon, Staff Attorney
Areas of expertise: Immigrants and Work • Wage and Hour Protections • Enforcement of Workplace Standards

Federal Advocacy Coordinator

Judith M. Conti, Federal Advocacy Coordinator
jconti@nelp.org
(202) 887-8202, ext. 354
Washington, D.C. office

Areas of Expertise
Unemployment Insurance · Criminal Records and Employment · Enforcement of Workplace Standards · Civil Rights

Biography
Judy joined NELP in 2007 after spending seven years as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the D.C. Employment Justice Center, a legal service provider devoted to workplace justice in the D.C. metropolitan area. Judy has developed NELP’s presence in D.C., working to bring the expertise and experience of NELP and its allies to the halls of Congress and relevant agencies. She has lobbied on issues of income security, job training for workers who have lost jobs due to globalization, and the needs of workers who have criminal records serving as a barrier to full employment. Before joining NELP, Judy’s work has been widely recognized with awards from the American Bar Association, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C., and the Echoing Green Foundation.

Education
J.D., College of William and Mary
B.A., Williams College

Coordinator, Immigrant Worker Justice Project

Rebecca Smith, Coordinator, Immigrant Worker Justice Project
rsmith@nelp.org
(206) 324-4000
Seattle, Washington Office

Areas of expertise
International Human and Labor Rights • Immigrants and Work • Enforcement of Workplace Standards • Unemployment Insurance

Biography
Rebecca Smith joined NELP in 2000, after nearly 20 years advocating for migrant farm workers in Washington State. At NELP, she has worked with state advocates to modernize state unemployment insurance programs, promoting reforms to fill the gaps in the program denying benefits to women and families. She has also worked to apply international human rights laws to help protect immigrant workers in the United States, and with immigrant worker organizing groups to enforce U.S. labor laws. She has testified before Congress and several state legislatures and published on these issues. In 2003, she received the United Farm Workers of America’s Aztec Eagle Award, in addition to the Golden Door Award from Northwest Immigrants' Rights Project in 1999 and special recognition by the Foreign Minister of Mexico for her work on behalf of undocumented workers before the Interamerican Court of Human Rights.

Education
J.D., University of Washington Law School
B.A., Washington State University
B.A., University of Washington

Selected Publications

·   “Human Rights at Home: Human Rights as an Organizing and Legal Tool in Low Wage Worker Communities,” Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (2007)

·   “Solutions, Not Scapegoats: Abating Sweatshop Conditions for All Low-Wage Workers as a Centerpiece of Immigration Reform,” New York University Journal of Legislation & Public Policy (2007)

·   “Low Pay, High Risk: State Models for Advancing Immigrant Workers’ Rights,” New York University Review of Law & Social Change (2004)

·   “Interamerican Court of Human Rights Amicus Curiae Brief: The United States Violates International Law When Labor Law Remedies are Restricted Based on Workers’ Migrant Status,” Seattle Journal for Social Justice (Spring/Summer 2003)

Staff Attorney & Midwest Coordinator

Rick McHugh, Staff Attorney & Midwest Coordinator
rmchugh@nelp.org
(734) 369-5616
Ann Arbor, Michigan Office

Areas of expertise
Dislocated Worker Programs (Trade Adjustment Assistance) · Unemployment Insurance · Wage and Hour Protections · Living and Minimum Wages

Biography
Rick McHugh joined NELP in 2000. Before joining NELP, he represented low-income workers seeking to access their government benefits as a legal services attorney, and he was a lawyer for the United Auto Workers, where he represented laid-off workers seeking to access unemployment benefits and Trade Adjustment Assistance. At NELP, he has successfully worked with advocates in the Midwest and other states to improve the state unemployment insurance programs. In 2005, he established the Economic Dislocation Initiative serving Midwest states suffering from major layoffs in the auto industry. He has testified before Congress and several state legislatures and published a number of articles on the unemployment insurance program and other worker rights issues.

Education
J.D., University of Michigan School of Law
B.A., Wabash College

Selected Publications

·    Getting Certified for Trade Adjustment Assistance: A Guide for Unions, Workforce Agencies, and Community Groups (National Employment Law Project: 2005)

·    “Unemployment Insurance and Voluntary Quits: How States' Policies Affect Today's Families,” Clearinghouse Review (May-June 2003)

·    Laid Off and Left Out: Part-Time Workers and Unemployment Insurance Eligibility (National Employment Law Project: 2002)

·    “Recognizing Wage and Hour Issues on Behalf of Low-Income Workers,” Clearinghouse Review (September-October 2001)

Legal Co-Director

Paul K. Sonn, Legal Co-Director
psonn@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 x.351
New York City Office

Areas of expertise
Minimum Wage and Living Wage · Economic and Workforce Development

Biography
For fifteen years Paul has worked on new approaches for promoting living wage jobs. His work has been profiled in the New York Times Magazine, the Nation, and the New York Law Journal. From 1999-2008, he was co-director of the Economic Justice Project at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. From 1994-1999 he was a Skadden Fellow and then assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Education
J.D., Yale Law School
A.B., Dartmouth College

Selected Publications

Government Paves the Way: A Decent Work Agenda for the Obama Administration, American Prospect (Sept. 21, 2009)
Restoring the Minimum Wage for America’s Tipped Workers (2009)
The Road to Responsible Contracting (2009)
“New Directions for the Living Wage Movement,” in The Gloves Off Economy, Cornell Univ. Press (2008)

Legal Co-Director

Catherine Ruckelshaus, Legal Co-Director
cruckelshaus@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 ext. 306
New York City Office

Areas of expertise
Immigrants and Work · Enforcement of Workplace Standards · Wage and Hour Protections · Nonstandard Workforce

Biography
Cathy Ruckelshaus joined NELP in 1995, after working for the Employment Law Center in San Francisco. For over 20 years, she has litigated and advocated for policy reforms promoting the workplace rights of immigrant and non-standard workers (part-time, temporary and subcontracted workers), enforcement of wage and hour and workplace laws, and anti-discrimination and family and medical leave laws. She has litigated class action lawsuits in state and federal court and authored several amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Courts of Appeal. In 2003, she was honored by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York for successfully litigating on behalf of New York City’s immigrant workers, and in 1989 she was a Skadden Fellow.

Education
J.D., Stanford Law School
B.A., Princeton University

Selected Publications

·   “Labor’s Wage War,” Fordham Urban Law Journal (2008)

·   “Solutions, Not Scapegoats: Abating Sweatshop Conditions for All Low-Wage Workers as a Centerpiece of Immigration Reform,” New York University Journal of Legislation & Public Policy, (2007)

·   “Down by Law: New Ideas for Defeating Sweatshops,” New Labor Forum (Spring/Summer 1999)

·   “Enforcing Fair Labor Standards in the Modern American Sweatshop: Rediscovering the Statutory Definition of Employment,” UCLA Law Review (1999)

·   The Family & Medical Leave Act: An Advocate’s Guide (National Employment Law Project: 1996)

Policy Co-Director

Maurice Emsellem, Policy Co-Director
emsellem@nelp.org
(510) 663-5700
Oakland, California Office

Areas of expertise
Unemployment Insurance · Criminal Records and Employment

Biography
Maurice Emsellem joined NELP in 1991, after working for the Legal Aid Society in New York City. At NELP, he has worked on collaborations with organizers and advocates that have successfully modernized state unemployment insurance programs, created employment protections for workfare workers, and reduced unfair barriers to employment of people with criminal records in state laws and in city hiring practices. He has testified before Congress and numerous state legislatures, promoting innovative policy reforms. He was a Soros Justice Senior Fellow in 2004 and a Stanford Public Interest Law Mentor in 2003.

Education
J.D., Northeastern University School of Law
B.A., University of Michigan

Selected Publications

Innovative State Reforms Shape New National Economic Security Plan for the 21st Century (National Employment Law Project: 2006)
"The Challenge of Employment in the Era of Criminal Background Checks," in The Gloves Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America's Labor Market, Cornell Univ. Press (2008)
"Easing Downward Mobility," Tompaine.com (March 8, 2007)
“Work Reform: The Other Side of Welfare Reform,” Stanford Law & Policy Review (Winter 1998)

Policy Co-Director

Annette Bernhardt, Policy Co-Director
abernhardt@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 x 350
New York City Office

Areas of expertise
Labor Market Research · Enforcement of Workplace Standards · Immigrants and Work · Economic and Workforce Development

Biography
Annette Bernhardt co-directed the Economic Justice Project at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, which merged with NELP in 2008. She coordinates NELP’s policy analysis and research support for campaigns around living wage jobs, enforcement of workplace standards and accountable development. A leading scholar of low-wage work, she has helped develop and analyze innovative policy responses to the changing nature of work in the United States. She has published widely in journals such as the American Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review, and the Journal of Labor Economics, among others. She received Princeton University’s Richard A. Lester Prize for the Outstanding Book in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations and Cornell University’s Center for the Study of Inequality Distinguished Book Award, among others.

Education
Ph.D., University of Chicago
B.A., Barnard College

Selected Publications

·   The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America's Labor Market (co-edited, Cornell University Press, 2008)

·   “The State of Worker Protections in the United States: Unregulated Work in New York City,” International Labour Review (co-authored, 2008)

·   “Bad Service Jobs: Can Unions Save Them? Can They Save Unions?” in Justice on the Job: Perspectives on the Erosion of Collective Bargaining in the United States (co-authored, 2006)

·   What Do We Know About Wal-Mart? An Overview of Facts and Studies for New Yorkers, Brennan Center for Justice (co-authored, 2005)

·   Low-Wage America: How Employers are Reshaping Opportunity in the Workplace, Russell Sage Foundation (co-edited, 2003)

·   Recession and 9/11: Economic Hardship and the Failure of the Safety Net for Unemployed Workers in New York City, Brennan Center for Justice (co-authored, 2003)

·   Why Privatizing Government Services Would Hurt Women Workers, Institute for Women’s Policy Research (co-authored, 2002)

·   Divergent Paths: Economic Mobility in the New American Labor Market, Russell Sage Foundation (co-authored, 2001)

Deputy Director

Andrew Stettner, Deputy Director
astettner@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 ext. 303
New York City Office

Areas of expertise
Labor Market Research · Unemployment Insurance

Biography
Andrew Stettner joined NELP in 2002 and became Deputy Director in 2007. He is an experienced policy advocate and analyst who served as the Executive Director of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice before joining NELP. At NELP, Stettner has published extensive empirical research on unemployment and worked on successful unemployment insurance reform initiatives at the national and state level. Stettner is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute.

Education
M.P.P., Georgetown University
B.A., Columbia University

Selected Publications
·   Down But Not Out, Reviving the Promise of Unemployment Insurance in New York State (National Employment Law Project: 2006)

·   Clearing the Path to Unemployment Insurance for Low-Wage Workers (National Employment Law Project: 2005)

·   The Rising Stakes of Job Loss: Stubborn Long-Term Joblessness Amid Falling Unemployment Rates (National Employment Law Project/Economic Policy Institute: 2004)

·   “Unemployment Insurance and Bias Against Families,” The Challenge (May-June 2003)

Executive Director

Christine L. Owens, Executive Director
cowens@nelp.org
202-887-8202, ext. 304 (Washington, DC Office)
212-285-3025 (New York Office)

Areas of Expertise
Living Wage & Minimum Wage · Labor Market Research · Workplace Equity

Biography
Christine Owens joined NELP as its Executive Director in January 2008. Over her long career as a workers’ rights advocate, she has held a variety of public interest and public sector positions advancing employment rights and opportunities for women, people of color and low wage workers. In 1997, she joined the national AFL-CIO as a senior policy analyst specializing in workplace equity issues, and in 2001, was appointed Director of Public Policy. At the AFL-CIO, she worked closely with NELP and numerous national and grassroots economic policy and worker advocacy groups, along with national unions and state labor federations, to promote reforms such as minimum wage and living wage hikes, pay equity for working women, and state UI coverage expansions. Before joining the AFL-CIO, she founded and ran the Workers Options Resource Center, which coordinated the efforts of a broad-based coalition of national and community organizations to win the 1996 federal minimum wage increase.

Education
J.D., University of Virginia
B.A., College of William and Mary

Selected Publications

· The Wal-Mart Tax: A Review of Studies Examining Employers’ Health Care Cost-Shifting (AFL-CIO: 2005)

Industry Studies and Other Labor Market Research

Finding ways to support good jobs means that we need to understand industries - their economics, their employers and their workers. We partner with allies to conduct in-depth research on industries such as restaurants, hotels, retail, grocery stores, construction, taxis, and others.

Winning Construction Jobs for Local Residents: A User's Guide for Community Organizing Campaigns lays out a step-by-step strategy for creating and keeping high-quality construction jobs for local residents, especially women and people of color.
Behind the Kitchen Door: Pervasive Inequality in New York's Thriving Restaurant Industry, a study conducted by the Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York (ROC-NY) in collaboration with NELP and other research organizations. We also contributed to a follow-up report: Dining Out, Dining Healthy: The Link Between Public Health and Working Conditions in New York City's Restaurant Industry.
Is Your Gourmet Grocery a Sweatshop? A Report on Working Conditions at Upscale Groceries in New York City, a report analyzing working conditions in New York City's gourmet groceries, conducted in collaboration with New York Jobs with Justice and Queens College Labor Resource Center.
What Do We Know About Wal-Mart?, a report collating research on the company's wages, benefits, compliance with workplace laws, cost to the taxpayer, and impact on local economies.
Chart Book on Wages, Operating Costs, and Cost of Living for Taxicab Drivers in New York City, an analysis of wages and fare increase proposals in New York City's yellow cab industry, prepared for the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
Moving Hotels to the High Road: Strategies That Help Workers and Firms Succeed, a report on innovative practices in the hotel industry, prepared jointly with the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. For an analysis of the role that unions play in the hotel industry, see The Coffee Pot Wars: Unions and Firm Restructuring in the Hotel Industry.

Other Labor Market Research:

We also focus on analyzing long-term trends in the U.S. labor market; our research has examined topics such as firm restructuring and changes in the organization of work, trends in job security and upward mobility, and factors driving the growth of low-wage service jobs. Recent examples include:

When Work Doesn't Pay: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in New York State, a study that highlights the true cost of low-road employment practices and short-sighted economic development strategies. (This study replicates public cost reports for California, Illinois and Wisconsin.)
In addition to policy reports, our research is disseminated through conference presentations and academic articles and books, including The Gloves-Off Economy:Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America's Labor Market, Low-Wage America: How Employers Are Reshaping Opportunity in the Workplace, and Divergent Paths: Economic Mobility in the New American Labor Market, co-authored/co-edited by NELP's policy co-director, Annette Bernhardt.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Annette Bernhardt, abernhardt@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Organizations providing national research on low-wage labor markets include:

Economic Policy Institute

Center for Economic Policy Analysis

Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS)

UC Berkeley Labor Center

State groups interested in collaborating on policy research can be found by searching the Economic Analysis Research Network (EARN)

In New York City, organizations providing applied labor market research include:

Fiscal Policy Institute

Center for an Urban Future

Community Service Society

Pratt Center for Community Development

Urban Agenda

Urban Justice Center

Research on Unemployment

The nature of unemployment has changed in recent decades. In the past, unemployment was typically caused by temporary layoffs after which workers would return to their jobs, or at the least, their same occupation. Today, the unemployed are often forced to leave their previous occupation and re-orient their careers as they struggle to find scarce quality job openings. Workers need more time to search for work and upgrade their skills, and as a result the duration of unemployment has increased significantly. Longer spells of unemployment correspond with greater economic hardship. NELP has conducted extensive research on long-term joblessness, including our report on the rising stakes of job loss and a major survey of unemployed workers' experiences.

Moreover, in good times and bad, unemployment is part and parcel of the career path of many low-wage workers, as firms churn through employees and as family needs conflict with jobs that don't provide time off for illness or sick children. NELP has documented these dimensions of unemployment as part of our effort to close the gaps in the unemployment insurance system.

NELP researchers monitor the status of employment and unemployment in the economy, including same-day analyses of the Labor Department's monthly employment situation release and weekly and monthly unemployment insurance claims reports. NELP's direct experience working with the unemployed and the unemployment insurance program gives us a unique analytic perspective. In addition, NELP publishes in depth reports that examine the changing nature of joblessness, and staff frequently testify in Congress about unemployment.

See also our policy work on Federal Extended Benefits and Unemployment Insurance, and the helpful statistics section of www.unemployedworkers.org.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Andrew Stettner, astettner@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Bureau of Labor Statistics

UI Claims Data

Economic Policy Institute

Research on the Growth of Unregulated Work

Low-wage labor markets in the United States have undergone substantial changes during the last decade. In industries ranging from construction and food manufacturing to grocery stores, restaurants, janitorial services and home health care, new forms of work organization have generated labor practices that are effectively beyond the reach of government regulation -- what we call "unregulated work.” In these jobs, workers routinely face violations of minimum wage and overtime laws, unsafe working conditions, discrimination, and retaliation for speaking up or trying to organize.

Advocates and policy makers have lacked reliable data on the magnitude of the problem, the industries that are the biggest culprits, and the workers who are most affected. The resulting information vacuum has significantly hampered policy responses, whether at the federal, state or local level. In response, the National Employment Law Project is partnering with researchers, legal advocates and community groups to document this labor market trend. Using a mix of new research tools, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, these collaborations have generated original data and analysis on what is effectively a world of work without laws.

A Landmark Survey of Workplace Violations in America’s Largest Cities

NELP collaborated with the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois-Chicago and the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UCLA on an ambitious worker survey with the goal of obtaining accurate and statistically representative estimates of the prevalence of workplace violations. In 2008 we surveyed 4,387 workers in low-wage industries in the three largest U.S. cities: Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. Using an innovative and rigorous methodology developed by Cornell University sociologist Douglas Heckathorn, we were able to reach vulnerable workers who are often missed in standard surveys, such as unauthorized immigrants and those paid in cash.

The result is a landmark survey that offers, for the first time, a window into the current state of worker protections in urban low-wage labor markets, where millions of workers are subject to severe and widespread violations of employment and labor laws.

To view the national report, click here: Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in America’s Cities
To view the New York City report, click here: Working Without Laws: A Survey of Employment and Labor Law Violations in New York City

The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America’s Labor Market

Increasing numbers of employers are breaking, bending or evading long-established laws and standards designed to protect workers, from the minimum wage to the right to organize. In 2008, labor scholars, academics, advocates and several NELP staff members joined forces to examine this “gloves-off” economy, in the first comprehensive analysis of this problem and the creative solutions being explored in communities and industries across the United States.

For more details on the edited book, click here: The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America’s Labor Market
For an accessible summary of the book, click here: Confronting the Gloves-Off Economy: America's Broken Labor Standards and How to Fix Them

Unregulated Work in the Global City: A Profile of 13 Industries

From 2003 to 2006, we conducted intensive field research in New York City to better understand unregulated work, including 330 interviews with employers, workers, legal services providers, community groups and government officials, as well as secondary analysis of industry and government datasets. Our in-depth research report includes detailed findings, policy recommendations, and an appendix of 13 industry profiles.

For more information on the research project and the resulting report and industry profiles, click here: Unregulated Work in the Global City: Employment and Labor Law Violations in New York City

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Annette Bernhardt, abernhardt@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, No Jobs: Labor Markets and Informal Work in Egypt, El Salvador, India, Russia, and South Africa, Global Policy Network

Hopeful Workers, Marginal Jobs: LA's Off-The-Books Labor Force, Economic Roundtable

On the Corner: Day Labor in the United States, by Abel Valenzuela, Nik Theodore, Edwin Melendez, and Ana Luz Gonzalez

Behind the Kitchen Door: Pervasive Inequality in New York City’s Thriving Restaurant Industry (WIEGO)

Home is Where the Work Is: Inside New York’s Domestic Work Industry (WIEGO)

Transportation Worker Background Checks

In the effort to identify terrorism risks after the September 11^th attacks, Congress instituted a new system of criminal background checks in the nation's transportation industry. A progression of federal mandates has been put in place to screen the millions of workers employed in the aviation, maritime and ground transportation industries.

Like most background checks, many of these screening policies fail to provide basic protections to limit abuse of the process. For example, they often fail to consider the age and seriousness of offenses, and do not allow workers to demonstrate rehabilitation. Overbroad exclusions unfairly deny employment to individuals who present no security risk and deprive the transportation industry of qualified workers.

However, the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) of 2002, which mandated that all port workers go through a background check to obtain the newly-required Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), includes several significant protections that go much further than most federal background checks to create a more fair and accurate screening process. Specifically, the MTSA:

Imposes more reasonable limits on the age and seriousness of the offenses that may disqualify an individual from the required security clearance; and

Provides for a "waiver" process that takes into account evidence of rehabilitation, as well as an appeal process that allows workers to challenge inaccuracies in their background check that lead to initial disqualification.

NELP is the nation's foremost authority on the rights of workers subject to the new federal background checks for port workers and truck drivers. We are playing a leading role in promoting similar procedures as a model for all federal and state criminal background checks. In addition, NELP is partnering with port security officials, port truck drivers, longshore workers,and many of the unions representing these workers to help ensure that workers take full advantage of their rights when they apply for the TWIC card by:

Publishing A Scorecard on the Post-9/11 Port Worker Background Checks

Producing A Worker's Guide to the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Application, Appeal and Waiver Process

Preparing "Know Your Rights" materials in several languages

Successfully representing numerous workers who were initially denied a TWIC card by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) (the agency implementing the TWIC program)

Testifying before Congress on proposed reforms to make the TWIC process more fair and accurate for workers and their employers.

For more information about our work in this area, please contact Madeline Neighly, mneighly@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Transportation Security Administration Information on the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)

Transportation Security Administration Information on Hazmat Endorsements

Employment Rights of Workers with Criminal Records

Workers with a criminal record - even a minor record dating back many years- often have a difficult time finding employment, especially given the proliferation of criminal background checks. For example, a major survey of Los Angeles employers found that over 60% of employers would "probably not" or "definitely not" be willing to hire an applicant with a criminal record.

Although employers may (to varying legal degrees) consider a worker's criminal history as part of the application process, employers often fail to comply with a range of federal and state laws that provide fundamental protections against abuse of criminal background checks. As a result, far too many hard-working people are wrongly denied employment, often in growing industries with serious labor shortages.

Of special importance, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)has concluded that because African American and Latino workers are arrested and convicted more often than whites, hiring policies that exclude workers with a criminal record may discriminate in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In addition, the nation's federal consumer protection law (the Fair Credit Reporting Act) requires accuracy in background checks conducted by private screening firms, and mandates that employers provide a copy of background check reports to workers before any adverse employment decision is taken.

In partnership with community groups and legal advocates, NELP has initiateda new program to enforce these critical employment protections by:

Making presentations to regional EEOC offices, workforce development specialists, public defenders, unions and other key organizations to help spread the word about civil rights and consumer rights protections.
Educating employers about the EEOC's Title VII standards that apply to people of color who are denied employment based on an arrest or conviction record.
Offering legal assistance in special cases to workers who want to enforce their anti-discrimination rights by filing Title VII discrimination complaints with the EEOC.

For more information about our work in this area, pleasecontact Madeline Neighly, mneighly@nelp.org, or Michelle Natividad Rodriguez, mrodriguez@nelp.org

Other key resources:

CommunityLegal Services of Philadelphia

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

City Hiring Initiatives

In cities across the country, record numbers of people with a criminal record are now struggling to turn their lives around and get a fair shot at employment in their communities.

Taking on this challenge, cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco and St. Paul have created a more fair application process, so that people who have a criminal record are judged on the merits of their skills and experience, not just their criminal history. Opening up city hiring policies in this way is a critical first step toward convincing private employers to do the right thing and give proper consideration to job applicants with a criminal history.

These cities have created a more fair and efficient screening process by removing the question on their job applications which asks about an individual's criminal record, and instead waiting until the final stages of the hiring process to conduct a criminal background check. As a result, workers are encouraged to apply for city and county jobs, and government employers are able to access a broad applicant pool of workers best qualified for the job.

Working in partnership with local officials and advocates, NELP has been at the forefront of this effort to create model city hiring standards that promote employment of people with a criminal record. Expanding on these innovative policies, NELP has played a critical role by:

Documenting the growing number of city and county hiring reforms as part of a comprehensive resource that also includes all official city and county policies, local expert contacts, press stories, campaign material, and more.

Providing intensive assistance to city human resources officials and local advocates to help navigate the legal and technical issues necessary to develop new hiring policies.

Gathering data and other helpful background information to evaluate the local hiring policies and make recommendations for improvement.

For help in developing similar initiatives in new cities, please contact Maurice Emsellem, emsellem@nelp.org.

See also our work on Economic and Workforce Development policies, which can be leveraged to increase employment opportunities for workers with criminal records.

Other key resources:

All of Us Or None

National League of Cities

Federal and State Policy Reforms

Especially since September 11th, more federal and state laws have imposed broad new mandates denying employment to large numbers of qualified workers who have a criminal record. While criminal background checks can be necessary to protect public safety and security, often these new laws go too far in prohibiting current workers and new applicants from working in growing industries with labor shortages, like health care and trucking.

For example, many occupational screening laws impose a lifetime barrier to employment for anyone with a felony criminal record, no matter the age or seriousness of the offense and without taking into account any evidence of rehabilitation. In addition, criminal background checks for employment routinely rely on records that are inaccurate or seriously out-of-date without providing basic protections for workers to verify and correct their records.

NELP is a leader in the effort to create model federal and state laws that protect public safety and security while also ensuring more fair and accurate criminal background checks by:

Testifying in Congress and in the states to place reasonable limits on the age and seriousness of disqualifying offenses and include special "waiver" procedures allowing workers to prove they have been rehabilitated.

Promoting reform of employment-based criminal background checks generated by the FBI to protect the millions of workers whose FBI records have not been updated to show that their arrests have been dismissed and to prevent the FBI from reporting petty juvenile and adult crimes. (H.R. 5300)

Educating and assisting workers to take full advantage of key worker protections in federal and state occupational screening laws.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Maurice Emsellem, emsellem@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

H.I.R.E. Network

The Sentencing Project

Council of State Governments Reentry Policy Council

Health and Safety for Immigrant Workers

Immigrant workers in the United States often labor in difficult and dangerous jobs. As a result, they have higher rates of workplace injuries and fatalities in industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, industrial laundries and nail salons. Workplace fatalities among foreign-born workers, particularly in the construction industry, have been growing at a time when the rate of fatalities for all workers has actually been declining.

Many of the tragic accidents that befall immigrant workers are preventable. Barriers such as language, fear of exposure to immigration authorities, and lack of attention to safety by their employers are among the obstacles immigrant workers face in keeping themselves safe on the job.

NELP works with community groups, legislators and lawyers to help provide a safe workplace for all workers.

Through training and strategic intervention in court cases, we ensure that immigration status does not keep workers from accessing workers' compensation. We highlight the real solutions - creative, community-based approaches to workplace safety - such as:

Participatory research projects where workers define the hazards on their jobs for themselves - see Home is Where the Work Is (on the domestic service industry); On the Corner (day labor); and Glossed Over, Health Hazards Associated with Toxic Exposure in the Nail Salon Industry.
Popular education curricula that encourage workers to share both experiences and solutions, such as one carried out by New Labor in New Jersey, and the Farm Worker Health and Safety Institute in Florida.
Training peer educators as "promotores de salud", as has been done in the farm worker community.
Passing and then monitoring legislative solutions such as the Meatpacker Bill of Rights, and the follow-up study Dignity on the Line, by Nebraska Appleseed.

See also our work in the areas of Immigrant Workers' Rights and Remedies and Enforcement of Workplace Standards.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Rebecca Smith, rsmith@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Worksafe, A California Coalition for Workplace Safety and Health Protection

Immigrant Workers at Risk: The Urgent Need for Improved Workplace Safety and Health Policies and Programs, AFL-CIO (2005)

Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, AFL-CIO (2008)

Human Rights Campaigns

Worldwide, millions of immigrants who have left their home countries in search of work are subject to officially-sanctioned discrimination and unredressed workplace abuses. Protection of basic workplace rights for immigrant workers is eroding in the United States, despite a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that "the migratory status of a person can never be a justification for depriving him of the enjoyment and exercise of his human rights, including those related to employment." Industries across our economy, including farm work, domestic work, day labor, home health care and the hospitality industry, benefit from labor law exemptions that leave many workers behind.

In this climate, NELP believes that using a human rights framework and message is a key tool for ensuring that immigrant workers achieve equal treatment in the United States. We collaborate with grassroots community groups, immigrant rights organizations and academics to shine an international light on disenfranchised workers within the U.S., and on the organizations that support their campaigns for equality.

Several workers' rights campaigns in the U.S. owe their success to their use of a broader human rights message - such as United Workers of Baltimore's historic human rights campaign on behalf of workers at Camden Yards, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' anti-slavery campaigns in Florida.

NELP's work in this area begins in communities, where our workers' rights curriculum has shown that human rights principles resonate powerfully. In addition:

We have litigated on behalf of immigrant workers in international bodies, including in the landmark 2003 Inter-American Court of Human Rights decision establishing that all workers are entitled, as a matter of human rights, to equal protection of labor laws.
Our reports have provided analysis and real life stories to international treaty monitoring bodies, including reports to the UN's Committee on Migrant Workers, Human Rights Committee and Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Our human rights work links the overarching frame of human rights law to existing campaigns of those locked out of labor law protections - and, in turn, brings together the campaigns of individual industries under the umbrella of universal, inalienable rights. Examples are New York's Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Campaign, the Restaurant Opportunities Center's attempts to stop discrimination in the restaurant industry, and community efforts in Arizona by the National Day Labor Organizing Network affiliate to stop illegal raids against day laborers.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Rebecca Smith, rsmith@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

US Human Rights Network

American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights Project

Platform on International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants

December 18

U.S. NGO responses to the U.S. 2007 Combined Periodic Reports to the International Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

CERD Concluding Observations, February 2008

Juridical Condition and Rights of the Undocumented Migrants, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, September 17, 2003

Report of U.S. Civil Society Organizations and Advocates in Response to the United States of American Second and Third Periodic Report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, 87^th Sess., July 2006

Immigrant Workers’ Rights and Remedies

Immigrant workers, especially the undocumented and short-term guestworkers, face enormous obstacles in their efforts to enforce workplace rights. These workers are often their family's only source of support in a world of poverty and injustice. They arrive in the US isolated by language, culture and geography. And their immigration status can be used as a club by unscrupulous employers who wish to take advantage of them.

A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling resulted in a storm of litigation around the country that has left our system of workplace protections in tatters. For example, undocumented workers are not entitled to compensation when they are fired in violation of their right to organize a union on the job. In some states, the right to workers' compensation has been curtailed for undocumented workers. And in at least one state (New Jersey), undocumented workers have no recourse for on-the-job discrimination.

The 180,000 low-wage temporary guestworkers in our country face equally steep barriers, arriving in the country in debt to labor recruiters and traffickers who often lie to them about what they will find here. These workers, frequently housed in isolated labor camps and denied by law the right to change jobs, fall victim to forced labor and labor trafficking.

Through litigation, policy design and support for organizing campaigns, NELP has been a national leader in developing strategies that support the rights of all workers, whether born in the U.S. or abroad. We do so out of the conviction that if labor rights are extinguished for some, those rights are degraded for all. And that if employers who violate labor laws get a free pass, then we only create a larger underground economy, which in the end hurts us all.

NELP's approach has several prongs:

We provide policy models for states agencies to establish a clear firewall between immigration and labor law enforcement, as has been done by the New York Attorney General, the California Legislature, and the Washington State Human Rights Commission.
We provide support to advocates seeking to keep immigration status out of the courtroom through legal analysis, training and intervention in key cases -- such as our amicus brief in Rivera v. NIBCO, and our manual, No Free Pass to Harass: Protecting the Rights of Undocumented Immigrant Women Workers in Sexual Harassment Cases.
We advocate for equal labor rights for guestworkers, as in our comments as part of the Low Wage Immigrant Worker Legal Network opposing changes to the H2B guestworker system that would reduce government oversight of the program.
We offer support and advice to organizing campaigns where immigration status might be used to retaliate against workers, or is being used to hold up settlement.
We make certain that immigrant workers have the identity tools they need to open bank accounts, drive cars and pay their taxes.

See also our work in the areas of Worksite Immigration Enforcement and No-Match , Human Rights Campaigns, Immigrant Workers' Health and Safety, and Enforcement of Workplace Standards. In addition to the resources listed here, NELP hosts the password-protected National Wage and Hour Clearinghouse at http://www.just-pay.org/.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Rebecca Smith, rsmith@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

NLRB General Counsel, Procedures and Remedies for DiscriminatesWho May Be Unauthorized Aliensafter Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. (Jul. 19, 2002)

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Rescission of Enforcement Guidance on Remedies Available to Undocumented Workers Under Federal Employment Discrimination Laws (Jun. 27, 2002)

U.S. Department of Labor, Application of U.S. Labor Laws to Immigrant Workers: Effect of Hoffman Plastic decision on laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division.

Southern Poverty Law Center, Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States(2007)

American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Rights at Work

National Immigration Law Center

Worksite Immigration Enforcement and No-Match

In poll after poll, the American public supports real immigration reform that brings undocumented workers out of the shadows. But public policy is pursuing an "enforcement only" approach - costly and disruptive worksite raids that separate families and criminalize workers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities disrupt organizing campaigns and undermine workers' exercise of their labor rights. Immigrants are penalized, rather than protected as victims of labor violations.

At the same time, attempts to require employers to verify workers' immigration status through flawed federal databases are on the rise. Twelve states now require employers to use the error-prone "E-Verify" system. The result is that law-abiding employers are confused by government rules and initiatives, which encourage them to use error-filled data systems to determine their employees' immigration status. And unscrupulous employers are finding ways to manipulate the system to deport workers who complain about labor violations.

NELP responds with the following strategies:

We work with U.S. citizens and immigrant workers to challenge proposals to turn Social Security "no-match" letters into an immigration enforcement tool -- by bringing workers' stories of abuse to the public eye, and by advising employers, unions and workers on the proper response to these letters.
We advise advocates on strategy when ICE enforcement follows assertion of workplace rights -- as in a recent court order in New Orleans, where day laborers detained after making a minimum wage complaint were certified for U-visas as victims of crime.
We work to ensure that the existing firewall between immigration enforcement and labor law enforcement, intended to keep ICE out of labor disputes, is honored.
We work with advocates and community groups to ensure that state policymakers understand that employer sanctions in general, and electronic verification in particular, are not a fix to our broken immigration system.
We highlight for policymakers the myriad studies that have documented the confusion, discrimination, and misuse that results from reliance on flawed databases to verify immigration status.

See also our work in the areas of Immigrant Workers' Rights and Remedies , State and Local Anti-Immigrant Legislation, and Enforcement of Workplace Standards. In addition to the resources listed here, NELP hosts the password-protected National Wage and Hour Clearinghouse at http://www.just-pay.org/.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Rebecca Smith, rsmith@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

US Department of Labor and Immigration and Naturalization Service, Memorandum of Understanding to Enhance Worksite Enforcement Sanctions and Labor Standards

California Immigrant Policy Center, Resources on Rapid Response

Low-Wage Immigrant Worker Coalition, Stop No-Match website

National Immigration Law Center, Social Security no-match letter toolkit

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Over-Raided, Under Siege: US Immigration Laws and Enforcement Destroy the Rights of Immigrants

State and Local Anti-Immigrant Legislation

In recent years, cities and states around the country have proposed hundreds of bills targeting undocumented workers - denying them compensation for injuries, making it criminal for them to work, or sanctioning employers who hire them. In a worsening economy of job loss, rising health care costs and the mortgage crisis, some state and local governments have turned to these bills as a misguided attempt to fix our broken immigration system. But such policies overlook the real problems affecting all workers: employers who fail to pay a decent wage and provide a safe workplace, and enforcement systems that are failing to shut down violations of labor laws. In addition, these policies also raise serious constitutional questions.

Since the first days of this phenomenon in 2005, NELP has been working to help activists and lawmakers understand the real issues in our economy and in labor law coverage and enforcement. NELP's More Harm than Good helps re-frame the debate and provides policy models for real reform, supporting our allies in developing state legislation to protect immigrant and US-born workers alike:

We offer legislative models that combine fair laws with robust enforcement, such as Connecticut's law that punishes employers who don't carry workers' compensation, Illinois' Employee Classification Act, and the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act, restricting employers from using the federal E-Verify employment verification system.
We document how communities are affected by anti-immigrant legislation in terms of implementation costs, litigation costs, and real human costs.
We provide fact sheets that help state advocates critique anti-immigrant proposals.
We collect and disseminate studies that document immigrants' contribution to our economy and culture, including those from Arizona, Chicago, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Oregon, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Rebecca Smith, rsmith@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Progressive States Network

Center for Community Change

American Immigration Lawyers' Association

Immigration Policy Center

National Immigration Law Center

Litigation

Because government enforcement resources are limited, private lawsuits brought by workers and advocates are a key component of our nation's system for enforcing workplace standards. NELP brings and supports strategic wage and hour litigation in a range of industries including garment, janitorial, home health care, delivery services, and retail.

In partnership with workers centers and unions, NELP has engaged in direct co-counseling on a range of wage and hour cases supporting organizing drives and industry reforms. These include a successful class action case brought on behalf of home health care workers not paid for the time spent traveling between households in Pennsylvania, and a range of cases for cafeteria and retail workers required to work off the clock and through meal and rest breaks.
NELP has used its expertise in subcontracting and independent contractors in most of the leading circuit cases establishing joint employer relationships in the FLSA, and in major litigation involving independent contractor relationships. The broad scope of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and most state wage-and-hour laws means that more employers should be held responsible for unpaid wages, including joint employers and subcontractors. In addition, too many employees are called "independent contractors" by their employers and deemed outside of the protection of wage and hour rules. We also promote model litigation in these areas via the National Wage Hour Clearinghouse, and provide technical assistance to practitioners.
Garment, day labor, retail, construction, agriculture, home health care and janitorial jobs are among the lowest-paying in our country, and are also seeing growing wage and hour violations. These jobs are dominated by immigrant workers often afraid to come forward to complain of underpayment. NELP brings direct litigation and assists others around the country bringing lawsuits in these under-enforced jobs dominated by immigrant workers.

Leading NELP-supported Joint Employer and Independent Contactor Decisions:

Lopez v. Silverman, 14 F. Supp.2d 405 (SDNY 1998), holds for the first time that a garment manufacturer is responsible for the unpaid wages of its contractors.
Ansoumana et al v. Gristede's Operating Corp., 201 F.R.D. 81 (SDNY 2001) and 255 F. Supp.2d 184 (SDNY 2003), approves "hybrid" class action and FLSA opt-in class and finds joint employer liability for minimum wage and overtime violations by retail stores hiring immigrant delivery workers via labor brokers.
Zheng v. Liberty Apparel, 355 F.3d 61 (2d Cir. 2003), finds garment manufacturer jointly responsible for unpaid wages of its subcontractor's workers.
Reyes v. Remington Seed Co., 495 F.3d 403 (7^th Cir. 2007), finds seed corn company responsible for unpaid wages of its farm labor contractor's workers.
Coverall North America v. Com'r of Div. of Unemployment Ins., 447 Mass. 852 (MA. S.J.C. 2006), finding immigrant janitorial "franchisees" eligible for unemployment insurance.

See also our work in the area of Immigrants and Work.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Cathy Ruckelshaus, cruckelshaus@nelp.org.

Industry Strategies

Violations of core worker protections are growing in low-wage industries across our economy, ranging from home health care and restaurants to domestic work and day labor. But the types of violations involved vary depending on the industry's economics, workforce, and employment structure.

As a result, NELP often designs industry-specific strategies to address workplace violations. We partner with immigrant worker centers and unions to develop targeted solutions to ensure that workers in these critical front-line jobs are paid properly and treated fairly.

NELP is currently targeting four low-wage industries:

Domestic Work: Many workers in private households, including domestic workers and home health care workers, are exempted from basic workplace protections such as minimum wage and overtime rules. NELP works to promote new state protections for these workers who fall through the cracks in federal rules, and to enforce existing state and federal laws when they are violated.
Home Health Care and Child Care Workers: Some employers illegally misclassify household workers as "independent contractors" in an attempt to evade their legal obligations to their employees. In several states, NELP has partnered with unions and community groups to enforce workplace standards regardless of an employer's misuse of the "independent contractor" label. We have also closed archaic loopholes that exclude these workers from minimum wage protections.
Day Labor: Day laborers experience some of the highest rates of workplace violations in the country, and they encounter substantial barriers to enforcing the laws in place to protect them. NELP has teamed up with worker centers and legislators around the country to respond to this problem by designing model day labor protection legislation and promoting its passage.
Restaurants and Food Service: The restaurant industry is notoriously difficult to monitor, even as minimum wage and overtime violations become more common. In response, NELP works with community groups and worker centers to raise labor standards for restaurant workers - including those who earn tips - and helps design state and local policies to improve the enforcement of workplace protections.

See also our work in the area of Industry Studies and Other Labor Market Research and Research on the Growth of Unregulated Work.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Cathy Ruckelshaus, cruckelshaus@nelp.org, Rebecca Smith, rsmith@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

AFL-CIO

Direct Care Alliance

Domestic Workers United

National Day Labor Organizing Network

Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United

Service Employees International Union

UNITE-HERE!

Independent Contractor Misclassification and Subcontracting

Growing numbers of employers call their employees "independent contractors" and subcontract key functions to other companies in order to side-step responsibility for minimum wage and other worker protections. Because U.S. employment and labor laws assign responsibility and rights to "employers" and "employees," employers seek to evade workplace rules through two devices: (1) they call their "employees" "independent contractors," and (2) they insert subcontractors between themselves and their employees. When these tactics succeed, construction workers, day laborers, home health aides, janitors and many others find themselves without workplace protections.

NELP is a leading expert on independent contractor evasions and improper use of subcontracting arrangements, and works with allies to end abuse of these rules, which harm workers, state and federal treasuries, and responsible employers alike.

At the federal level, NELP is working to promote federal bills aimed at independent contractor abuses. Three separate pieces of federal legislation are pending, to strengthen the federal tax code's treatment of employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors and to create tighter recordkeeping rules. NELP helped to strategize and develop these proposed policies, drawing on progress made at the state level to fight independent contractor abuses.
NELP researches and reports on state legislative, administrative and executive activity around the growing problem of independent contractor misclassification. States are on the forefront of addressing this problem, by commissioning studies to document violations and losses to the state coffers, issuing Executive Orders that establish inter-agency task forces, and passing laws to close the loopholes. NELP's Summary of State Independent Contractor Reforms is one recent example.
NELP promotes state agency enforcement and private litigation aimed at subcontracting abuses by holding "joint employers" accountable for workplace standards violations. NELP helps state agencies identify strategic practices and draft regulations to tighten definitions of responsible employers. NELP also engages in direct litigation and amicus and appellate support in wage-and-hour joint employer cases, including recent circuit cases to find joint employer liability in the Second, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits.
NELP's Subcontracted Work Initiative brought together unions, academics and practitioners from a wide variety of job sectors for two national conferences to study the mechanisms of subcontracting in garment, agriculture, janitorial, hospitality, health care and other jobs, and generated a report with policy recommendations for reform.

See also our work in the area of Government Enforcement of Workplace Rights and Litigation.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Cathy Ruckelshaus, cruckelshaus@nelp.org.

Other Key Resources:

National Alliance for Fair Contracting

United Brotherhood of Carpenters

Support for Wage Campaigns by Worker Centers and Unions

Across the country, immigrant worker centers and unions are using employer violations of minimum wage and overtime laws to organize workers and transform industries. These community-based campaigns are on the rise because growing numbers of low-wage and immigrant workers are being denied overtime and meal breaks, paid less than the minimum wage, and forced to work off the clock without pay.

For more than a decade, NELP has supported this dynamic movement by co-counseling in litigation, assessing state and federal wage laws, and providing technical assistance.

NELP supports:

Workers centers in their collaborations with state and federal departments of labor. NELP-supported collaborations in Chicago, New York and California have used government partnerships to advance workers' rights in industries such as day labor, construction and restaurants. These partnerships enhance state agencies' ability to do their job while providing worker centers with access to much-needed government power against workplace violations. By partnering with public agencies, worker centers leverage their own scarce resources and enable them to make a difference in workers' lives.
Unions and worker centers in their efforts to collect data on workplace standards violations to help identify high-violation jobs that could be targets for campaigns, agency investigation, or private lawsuits. NELP has been at the forefront of conducting research on high-violation jobs in the restaurant, day labor and domestic work sectors.
The production and dissemination of worker-friendly educational materials, to get the word out about labor standards and how to enforce them. NELP drafts and disseminates bilingual "know-your-rights" guides for day laborers, domestic workers, and for workers seeking to use local small claims court systems to stop wage abuses. NELP's Rights Begin at Home, Protecting Yourself as a Domestic Worker has been adapted for domestic worker groups in New York, California, and Illinois.
Unions and worker centers engaged in direct litigation against target employers who flout the basic minimum standards. NELP co-counsels and assists these lawsuits against home health care companies, delivery and retail establishments, and garment manufacturers, among others.

See also our work in the area of Government Enforcement of Workplace Rights and Litigation.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Cathy Ruckelshaus, cruckelshaus@nelp.org, Rebecca Smith, rsmith@nelp.org, Laura Moskowitz, lmoskowitz@nelp.org, or Raj Nayak, rnayak@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

National networks of worker centers pursing wage theft campaigns include Domestic Workers United, Interfaith Worker Justice, National Day Labor Organizing Network, and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. See also Janice Fine, Worker Centers: Organizing at the Edge of the Dream (Cornell U.P.: 2005).

Labor unions around the country are also focusing on wage theft. For a listing, see Catherine K. Ruckelshaus, Labor's Wage War, 35 Fordham Urb. L.J. 373 (2008).

Strengthening Government Enforcement of Wage Laws

Because violations of minimum wage and overtime laws are growing in low-wage industries across the country, government must play an active role in protecting workers and ensuring that they are paid the money they are owed. But while our nation's economy and our workplaces have changed fundamentally in recent decades, our federal and state government enforcement efforts have largely failed to keep pace. The United States Department of Labor and most state labor departments still focus on investigating individual claims, using their scarce resources to tackle low-impact smaller cases.

NELP and our allies work with state agencies at every level of government to modernize outdated enforcement strategies and pursue more strategic, proactive enforcement. We help agencies design enforcement plans that not only address individual claims but also send a strong signal to employers that it is unacceptable to violate minimum wage and overtime laws. In the process, we level the playing field for employers who play by the rules and pay workers the wages they are owed.

In particular, NELP pursues several concrete strategies for reforming the way that government agencies enforce wage-and-hour laws:

Overhauling state labor departments: We lead coalitions of community groups, worker centers, legal advocates, and labor unions in pursuing key reforms to improve the way that state labor departments enforce existing wage-and-hour laws, for example, through recommendations to the New York State Department of Labor.
Strengthening state enforcement authority: We help community groups and state enforcement agencies around the country design and propose legislation to enhance their tools for enforcing important worker protections. See especially our report, Justice for Workers: State Agencies Can Combat Wage Theft.
Modernizing federal enforcement strategies: We develop reforms for the United States Department of Labor, drawing on best practices from state labor departments and proven legislative reforms.
Encouraging community collaborations: We build bridges between state agencies and community groups, worker centers, and labor unions so that the agencies can take advantage of these "eyes and ears" on the ground to better target resources and understand industry practices.
Designing enforcement strategies for attorneys general: We advise state attorneys general - states' chief legal officers - on best practices for pursuing meaningful wage-and-hour investigations for workers most in need of protection.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Cathy Ruckelshaus, cruckelshaus@nelp.org .

Other Key Resources:

Jennifer Brand, Adding Labor to the Docket: The Role of State Attorneys General in the Enforcement of Labor Laws (2007)

New York State Department of Labor, Investigation Marks New Proactive and Systemic Approach to Rooting Out Violations (2008)

United States Department of Labor, 1999-2000 Report on Initiatives (2001)

National networks of worker centers that engage government agencies on wage theft campaigns include Domestic Workers United, Interfaith Worker Justice, National Day Labor Organizing Network, and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United

Labor unions around the country are encouraging government enforcement efforts as well. For a listing, see Catherine K. Ruckelshaus, Labor's Wage War, 35 Fordham Urb. L.J. 373 (2008)

One City/One Future: Redefining Economic Development in New York City

Across the nation, cities are exploring new strategies for ensuring that economic development delivers the good jobs, affordable housing and livable communities that local residents need. In New York City, NELP partnered with the Pratt Center for Community Development and New York Jobs with Justice on a major coalition-based policy initiative to make economic development more equitable and accountable. This coalition, called One City/One Future, recently released its landmark policy blueprint providing a roadmap for how the city can rebalance its approach to economic development to share the benefits of growth more broadly.

Strong Growth But Widening Inequality

Like many cities, New York has seen strong and sustained growth since the 1990's. Unfortunately, that same growth has also fueled an intensifying level of inequality that is undermining the city's social and economic fabric. The number of working poor continues to grow alongside an unprecedented concentration of wealth. Those who can afford rents displace those who cannot. Some neighborhoods shoulder the city's environmental burdens, while others benefit from the creation of new open spaces. And race-based inequality and segregation persist.

Publicly-sponsored economic development, while a key engine of growth, has too often contributed to these trends. Whether in the form of large subsidized projects or the more standard incentive packages for private developers, economic development continues to create low-wage jobs in a high-cost city; to escalate real estate prices, thus driving out manufacturers, small businesses, and affordable housing; to strain an aging and inadequate infrastructure; and to take place without meaningful community input and planning.

A Blueprint for Growth That Works for All New Yorkers

To respond, NELP and its allies launched the OneCity/One Future initiative in 2004. This collaboration brought together more than 100 civic leaders, neighborhood advocates, community development organizations, labor unions, local development corporations, environmentalists, and others to chart a new course for making economic development work for all New Yorkers.

Our focus is on reorienting the city's economic development programs to focus on leveraging New York's comparative advantage as a "strong growth" city to deliver good jobs and services in diverse, livable, and affordable communities. Maintaining our city's economic engine is essential, but it should be done within a social contract that promises to share prosperity, reduce inequality, increase opportunity, and fully involve all stakeholders in determining the city's future.

After an intensive research and policy development process, in early 2009, One City/One Future released its landmark policy blueprint for reforming economic development in New York, and brought together hundreds of community advocates, labor leaders, elected officials and others for a release forum promoting this vision of equitable and accountable growth.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Annette Bernhardt, abernhardt@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Partnership for Working Families

Good Jobs First

Midwest Economic Adjustment Initiative

Midwestern states, especially Ohio and Michigan, face continued and significant job losses due to the ongoing restructuring of automotive and other manufacturing firms. Addressing economic dislocation and plant closings is a significant challenge for impacted workers, their communities, and state and local agencies.

NELP is promoting best practices for responding to major layoffs, particularly strategies funded through the "rapid response" program of the federal Workforce Investment Act. We support the use of state rapid response teams, labor or community/management committees, and peer networks to assist impacted workers. These practices are critical in connecting impacted workers to employment and related services. NELP provides resources that describe the nuts and bolts of developing effective rapid response policies to assist workers and communities, including this detailed overview of best practices in rapid response.

But manufacturing decline is not inevitable. States can use their rapid response dollars and other state resources to assist distressed firms and avoid layoffs altogether, through layoff aversion strategies like employee ownership or market conversion. More broadly, NELP advocates for renewal of the manufacturing sector as a key part of an innovative economy that provides shared prosperity and addresses major challenges such as alternative energy and climate change.

To promote best practices on adjustment policies and spur a more coordinated approach to the challenges facing the Midwest, NELP has hosted two major gatherings of regional experts:

NELP's 2008 Great Lakes Economic Revitalization Summit: Progressive leaders in the manufacturing heartland stretching from Western New York to Eastern Iowa face common challenges in achieving economic revitalization and manufacturing renewal. This webpage gathers resources for building an economy that works for low-income and middle class families in this region and across the U.S.

NELP's 2006 Michigan Economic Dislocation Summit: This summit brought together best practices for serving dislocated workers from a range of states including North Carolina, Minnesota, Illinois and Pennsylvania, in an effort to promote innovative policies throughout the region.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Lynn Minick, lminick@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Working for America Institute provides many resources on worker training, high road economic development, advanced manufacturing, and sector strategies.

The Steel Valley Authority in Pittsburgh has been a national leader in developing layoff aversion and early warning networks.

The North Carolina Rural Development Center includes many resources, including research papers, interesting links, and materials about North Carolina's response to globalization.

The Center on Wisconsin Strategy provides policy models on many issues related to manufacturing and economic revitalization in the Midwest.

Trade Adjustment Assistance

Globalization and trade policies have resulted in the loss of millions of good jobs in the United States. The promise of the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance program (TAA) is for displaced workers to receive assistance to mitigate the damage of job loss and to help them obtain the skills needed to compete for good jobs in today's economy.

TAA does constitute one of the most complete packages of worker assistance available. Offering up to two years of training and unemployment benefits, TAA gives dislocated workers in the U.S. a chance to complete a meaningful training course while providing for their basic expenses. In addition, TAA provides a tax credit that pays for up to 65 percent of the costs of continuing health care.

However, the TAA program falls short of its promise. Eligibility for benefits is limited to groups of workers who work at a facility that has successfully petitioned the federal government to prove that its job cuts were directly related to trade. Access to the program is constrained by major eligibility restrictions, and the funding for retraining is capped by Congress. Furthermore, TAA is marked by serious implementation challenges for states that operate the federally-funded program.

NELP has focused on state implementation of TAA since 2005, and advises community groups and unions about how to file successful TAA petitions. NELP also advocates at the federal level for major changes in the TAA program that would make it a more powerful tool for addressing the impact of globalization in the economy. We incorporate the lessons we've learned at the state level to the national debate over the reauthorization of the TAA program, as laid out in our congressional testimony on TAA reform priorities.

NELP has published a TAA Certification Manual that takes community groups and unions step-by-step through the process of getting certified for Trade Adjustment Assistance with concrete examples.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Rick McHugh, rmchugh@nelp.org

Other key resources:

Download the U.S. Dept. of Labor TAA petition form in English or Spanish

U.S. Department of Labor Website on Trade Adjustment Assistance: This website has background information on TAA for workers and allows you to track the status of your TAA petition online.

Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms: This website has information on Trade Adjustment Assistance for firms, a separate TAA program that provides assistance for domestic manufacturing firms hurt by imports.

Good Food and Good Jobs for Underserved Communities

Low-income neighborhoods in cities across the country face a chronic shortage of stores selling healthy, affordable food - and a chronic shortage of good jobs. Rising commercial rents have led supermarkets to close down, creating "food deserts" where residents must shop at bodegas, gas stations and other outlets that provide low-quality food and jobs that pay poverty wages.

NELP is partnering on a pilot program in New York City that will bring quality supermarkets with living wage jobs to underserved communities. Together with a working group of policy experts from allied organizations, we are investigating how city policy tools - including land use controls, the planning process, subsidies and other incentives - can be leveraged to bring more stores offering good food and good jobs to needy neighborhoods. We anticipate that this project will become a campaign next year, and serve as a highly-watched demonstration project for other cities across the country.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Paul Sonn, psonn@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

UFCW Local 1500 Building Blocks Project

The Food Trust

PolicyLink: Healthy Food - Healthy Communities

PolicyLink: Healthy Food Retailing Toolkit

Job Standards for Economic Development

Millions of working Americans today spend their careers in fast-growing service industry jobs such as building security, retail, food services and hotels. But these occupations, which represent a growing share of our economy because they cannot be outsourced, generally provide very low wages and benefits, leaving working families and communities struggling. High road employers like the retail giant Costco, unionized hotel chains in Las Vegas and San Francisco, and the janitorial industry in cities like New York and Chicago, however, have shown that they can operate competitively while providing living wages and benefits.

Policymakers are now exploring new strategies for shifting more employers in these industries towards a high wage, high productivity model. The tools they are using range from the government procurement system to the municipal economic development process. By including job standards as a key part of economic development and procurement programs, communities are beginning to ensure that growth produces the good jobs their residents need.

NELP is a key ally for policymakers and advocates in this emerging field - developing new policy models, providing legal analysis, and advising on realistic job standards. Our work in this area includes:

Job Standards for Federal Programs: NELP is working with allies to show how federal government spending can be used to shift more industries towards providing better wages and benefits. Federal purchasing and incentive programs comprise a significant portion of the economy, financing millions of jobs across the nation. Through approaches like living wage standards and "best value" bid evaluation systems that recognize the benefits to both taxpayers and working families when businesses invest in their workforces, federal spending can incentivize more employers to provide family-supporting wages and benefits.
Job Standards for Local Programs: NELP advocates for incorporating job standards into city economic development programs to ensure that growth delivers the living wage jobs that local communities need. Over the past decade, cities have established job standards for individual economic development projects by negotiating "community benefits agreements" with developers. Cities are now looking to extend this approach by making job standards a key component of all new economic development. In New York, where one city incentive program now includes job standards, NELP is helping make the case for extending them to all city-linked development.
Industry-Targeted Job Standards for Development: NELP is helping cities explore living wage laws targeted towards key low-wage industries as a new strategy for upgrading low-wage jobs. In 2006, we helped Chicago lawmakers develop a living wage for the fast-growing "big box" retail industry, but the measure was vetoed by Mayor Richard Daley. In the years since then, Washington, D.C. has adopted the nation's first living wage for the building security industry, successfully transforming poverty wage jobs into positions paying $11.51 per hour as of 2008, plus solid benefits. Los Angeles and Emeryville, California have enacted similar living wage laws for hotel industry jobs in their communities. NELP provides assistance to cities and advocates seeking to replicate this important new approach.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Paul Sonn, psonn@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Partnership for Working Families

Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)

Good Jobs First

Policy Link

Unemployment Insurance Financing

The strength of a state's unemployment insurance program is dependent on stable and reliable funding. The best systems save surpluses when the economy is growing in order to pay benefits during tough times when benefits are needed the most.

The UI program is based on a built-in system that generates revenue from employer payroll taxes to cover the cost of state UI benefits. The system must collect enough revenue to pay benefits during recessions so that the state is not forced to borrow from the federal government, or worse, cut UI benefits to workers. In recent years, however, many states have moved dangerously away from sound principles of UI financing. Rather than build up their unemployment trust fund reserves in good economic times, states have significantly cut UI payroll taxes, which compromises the ability of the program to grow in order to meet the needs of today's workers. On average, U.S. employers now pay just $280 per worker a year to cover state benefits, and $56 per worker in federal UI taxes to pay for federal extended unemployment benefits and state administration of the UI program.

NELP is a leading source of expertise to help evaluate the financing of state UI programs and make recommendations for reform to strengthen a state's UI financing system. NELP's 2008 report evaluates the status of UI trust funds at a time when the economy is facing another recession and describes key standards to measure the solvency of state UI programs.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Rick McHugh, rmchugh@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Urban Institute

Department of Treasury Unemployment Trust Fund Report Page

Department of Labor UI Program Statistics Page

State Reports and Statistics

States make most of the key decisions that determine which workers will collect UI benefits, how much they receive, and how well the program is funded. The result is significant variation from state to state. For example, in some states less than one in five workers collect UI benefits, while in others more than half do, because of strong support for the program. Regionally, however, there is often more consistency because of interstate competition and other factors, with some regions in the U.S., like the South, much less likely to have strong UI programs.

Useful and reliable statistics measuring the adequacy of the state UI programs play a significant role in debates at the state level to reform the system. NELP is a leading resource for UI statistics helping state advocates, policymakers, researchers and the press evaluate state UI programs, make comparisons with other states, and develop meaningful recommendations for reform.

State Statistics Chartbook: NELP produces an annual UI chartbook comparing the states and the regions of the country on several basic measures to help evaluate the adequacy of the UI program.

Northeast (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont)
Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin)
South (Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia)
West (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming)

Individual State Analyses: NELP has also issued separate state reports and shorter analyses evaluating UI programs in more than half the states.

State Legislation Updates: NELP has tracked state UI legislation for more than a decade, as documented by legislative updates issued perdiodically:

1996-2001

2002

2003

State UI Statistics are available on the following bases:

Monthly

Quarterly

Annual

For more information on our work in this area, or for help with UI statistics in your state, contact Andrew Stettner, astettner@nelp.org.

Federal Policy Initiatives

The unemployment insurance program is the nation's first line of defense against a recession, helping to boost the economy and serve communities hardest hit by job losses. While the states play the lead in setting program rules, the federal government also has a critical role in establishing minimum standards for the states and ensuring that the funding is there to pay for federal extended benefits when necessary.

With the help of our state partners, NELP works to leverage the federal role in the unemployment insurance program to expand access to benefits and strengthen the program to serve the fundamental national interests it was designed to protect.

Modernizing Unemployment Insurance-The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which made historic changes to the unemployment program. The act provided federal incentive awards to states that expand access to benefits to low-wage, women, and part-time workers and the long-term unemployed. If enacted, the bill would help another 500,000 workers collect jobless benefits every year and provide needed funding for the states to better run their basic UI services, and additional extended benefits and health care coverage for the jobless. Click here to check NELP's campaign to fully implement the stimulus bill.
Extended Jobless Benefits: The growing problem of long-term joblessness means that today's workers rely more and more on federal extended unemployment benefits when their basic 26 weeks of state assistance runs out. NELP has been a leader in successful efforts to temporarily extend jobless benefits during the past two recessions and to fix the permanent federal program of extended benefits. NELP's website for jobless workers [www.unemployedworkers.org] provides helpful resources and details on the latest initiatives to extend federal jobless benefits.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance: Federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) benefits provide federal benefits to workers who lose their livelihood because of a disaster but who do not qualify for state unemployment benefits (such as the self-employed and individuals who were recently hired). NELP was at the forefront of the effort to help deliver DUA benefits to hundreds of thousands of workers left jobless after Hurricane Katrina and the September 11th attacks, while also advocating for major improvements to the program in Congress.

See also our UI research page for more information on long-term joblessness and extended benefits.

For more informationon our work in this area, please contact Maurice Emsellem, emsellem@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Economic Policy Institute

National Association of State Workforce Agencies

Filling the Gaps in the Unemployment Safety Net

Unemployment is a reality of most workers' careers - for example, a recent government report found that 85 percent of experienced workers have had at least one spell of unemployment in their careers. Low-wage workers are particularly hard hit by unemployment and are twice as likely to experience joblessness as their higher-wage counterparts. With unemployment so prevalent, our economy counts on unemployment insurance benefits to smooth out the unexpected hardships that hit workers and their families when they lose their jobs. These benefits enable workers to escape temporary poverty and lasting financial hardships caused by job loss.

Unfortunately, outmoded eligibility rules mean that benefits are out of reach for many unemployed workers. In particular, state UI programs, which determine most of the rules that govern eligibility for benefits, have left low-wage workers, women and part-time workers struggling to qualify for the program. Other growing segments of the workforce also fall through the cracks, including temporary workers, older workers and immigrant workers.

NELP is the nation's leading resource for states to identify the major gaps in their UI programs, while also providing the empirical research and legal analysis necessary to identify the best options for reform. Over the last decade, for example, more than half the states have significantly modernized their UI programs with intensive support from NELP.

NELP's manual, Changing Workforce, Changing Economy: State Unemployment Insurance for the 21st Century, is the go-to resource for short summaries of all the leading reforms (and accompanying model legislation) to help states modernize their UI programs. In addition, NELP has produced numerous fact sheets and research reports on key state policy reforms to close the gaps in the UI program for:

Low-Wage Workers: Low-wage workers are unfairly denied benefits in many states that still fail to allow workers to count all of their latest earnings when they apply for benefits rather than adopting the "alternative base period." (Fact Sheet / Research Report)
Part-Time Workers: Part-time workers, often women with family responsibilities, are far more likely to qualify for UI benefits when states do not require them to look for full-time work in order to qualify for UI benefits. (Fact Sheet / Cost Estimate / Research Report Estimate)
Women Workers: Women workers often leave work for compelling family reasons, such as the loss of child care, and many states have reformed their UI laws to help workers balance their demanding work and family responsibilities. (Fact Sheet / Research Report)
Domestic Violence Survivors: Many states have taken significant steps to provide UI benefits to domestic violence survivors who are often forced to quit their job in order to protect themselves and their children. (Fact Sheet / Cost Estimate / Research Report)
Temporary Workers & Independent Contractors: The new "non-standard" workforce of temporary workers and those who are routinely misclassified by their employers as independent contractors often lose out on unemployment benefits, but that is changing in a growing number of states that have taken steps to ensure they qualify. (Fact Sheet / Research Report)
Older Workers: In today's economy workers are employed well into their 60s, which has led many states in recent years to reform their UI laws to provide adequate jobless benefits to older workers who also are living on social security or a pension. (Fact Sheet)
Immigrant Workers: Many documented immigrants are eligible for unemployment benefits but, depending on their status, can lose out on unemployment compensation unless they know their rights. (Fact Sheet)

For more information contact:

West Coast and Southwest States: Maurice Emsellem (emsellem@nelp.org) or Rebecca Smith (rsmith@nelp.org)

Midwest States: Rick McHugh, rmchugh@nelp.org

Northeast and Southeast States: Andrew Stettner, astettner@nelp.org

Other key resources:

The General Accountability Office, especially its recent report

Legal Momentum

The Advisory Commission of Unemployment Compensation (1996) recommended many key changes to the UI program

NELP Board of Directors

Jared Bernstein
Senior Fellow, Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
Washington, DC

Jules Bernstein
Partner, Bernstein & Lippsett, PC
Washington, DC

Wendy Chun-Hoon
DC Director, Family Values at Work
Silver Spring, MD

Cecilia Estolano
Partner, Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors, LLC
Los Angeles, CA

Laura A. Fortman
Executive Director, Frances Perkins Center
Newcastle, Maine

Elaise L. Fox
President, United Food and Commercial Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 1657
Birmingham, Alabama

Lilia Garcia-Brower
Executive Director, Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund
Los Angeles, CA

Jonathan Hiatt, Esq.
Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant to the President, AFL-CIO
Washington, D.C.

Lucille Logan
President, National Organization of Client Advocates
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Walter M. Meginniss, Jr. (Treasurer)
Attorney, Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss
New York, New York

Jim Sessions (Acting Chair)
East Tennesse Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice
Knoxville, Tennessee

Thomas Weeks, Esq.
Executive Director, Ohio State Legal Services Association
Columbus, Ohio

Cathy Wilkinson
Minimum Wage and Workers’ Rights Campaign Community Activist
Wheeling, West Virginia

Newsroom

Press Inquiries

For press inquiries only, please contact NELP Communications Director Norman Eng at 212-285-3025 x317 or neng[at]nelp.org, or contact Tim Bradley of BerlinRosen Communications at 314-440-9936 or tim[at]berlinrosen.com. (Questions from workers should go to nelp[at]nelp.org or 212-285-3025 x301.)

Unemployment Insurance or Criminal Records: Maurice Emsellem, emsellem[at]nelp.org, 510-663-5700.
Immigrants and Work: Rebecca Smith, rsmith[at]nelp.org, 206-324-4000.
Wage Standards and Subcontracted Work: Cathy Ruckelshaus, cruckelshaus[at]nelp.org, 212-285-3025 x307.
Minimum and Living Wages: Paul Sonn, psonn[at]nelp.org, 212-285-3025 x351.
Low Wage and Unregulated Work: Paul Sonn, psonn[at]nelp.org, 212-285-3025 x351; or Cathy Ruckelshaus, cruckelshaus[at]nelp.org, 212-285-3025 x307.
Job Creation and Economic Recovery: Anastasia Christman, 202-887-8202 x367, achristman[at]nelp.org.

Press Resources

Living Wage Laws

Since the early 1990s, more than 120 municipalities across the country have enacted living wage laws to restore the wage floor at the local level. Living wage laws establish wage standards for businesses that receive contracts or subsidies from local governments. They provide a practical way for cities to ensure that public dollars generate quality jobs for local residents. With wage rates ranging from $9 to $16 per hour and higher, living wage laws raise the minimum wage closer to a level that allows low-income workers to meet their families' basic needs. Most living wage laws also create incentives for employers to provide health care by providing wage credits for employers who do so.

NELP has provided extensive legal and policy support for the living wage movement, including:

* Providing legal support to dozens of living wage campaigns in cities ranging from New York to Atlanta to Sacramento;

* Helping to defend living wage laws (St. Louis, Berkeley, Hudson County) and encourage their enforcement (Buffalo, Hayward);

* Developing a model living wage law as a resource for local advocates and policymakers;

* Publishing a report examining the impact of living wage laws on city budgets, and another report projecting the effects of New York City's 2002 living wage law for the city's businesses and working families.

* Providing analysis relating to the 2011 proposal to extend New York City's living wage law to cover major economic development projects that receive city subsidies, including:

Research Brief: Assessment of NYC Living Wage Impact Study (May 12, 2011)
An Overview of Job Quality and Discretionary Economic Development Subsidies in New York City (March 8, 2011)
NELP-FPI Analysis of New York City Wage Study Team (October 27, 2010)
"Experience Shows Living Wage Policies Work," Gotham Gazette (December 14, 2010)

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Paul Sonn, psonn@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Center for American Progress: Creating Good Jobs in Our Communities: How Higher Wage Standards Affect Economic Development and Employment

Center for Economic and Policy Research: The Wage and Employment Impact of Minimum-Wage Laws in Three Cities

Economic Policy Institute Report on the Economic Impact of Local Living Wages

Economic Policy Institute: Minimum Wage Issue Guide

Univer sity of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute

UC Berkeley Labor Center

Wayne State Guide to Organizing a Living Wage Campaign

Citywide Minimum wage

Building on the success of the living wage movement, cities searching for ways to help the working poor have begun to enact broad new laws to raise the minimum wage at the local level. Unlike living wage laws, which only cover businesses that receive contracts or public subsidies from cities, these citywide minimum wage laws are more comprehensive in that they cover most or all employers in a city. The minimum wage levels under these laws are often higher than the state and federal minimum wages.

NELP works with local coalitions to develop citywide minimum wage laws by providing legal support and technical assistance. Our policy brief, Citywide Minimum Wage Laws: A New Policy Tool for Local Governments, provides more background on these new laws, comparing them to other wage legislation and summarizing emerging research findings on their economic impact.

Economic Impact

Researchers have studied the effects of citywide minimum wages on local economies. The findings have been largely promising for both low-wage workers and the business climate:

University of California researchers studied San Francisco's restaurant industry in 2007 and found that the city's minimum wage improved low-wage workers' earnings without slowing employment growth.
University of New Mexico researchers found in 2006 that even after Santa Fe's citywide minimum wage increase, the city sustained relatively strong growth in sectors that employ predominantly low-wage workers, including accommodations and food services.

Past Projects

Santa Fe enacted one of the nation's first citywide minimum wage laws in 2003 with legal assistance from NELP staff. We then defended the law against a legal challenge and won a landmark ruling confirming that municipalities have the authority to establish minimum wages that are higher than the federal and state levels. The Santa Fe Minimum Wage, now $9.50 an hour, was expanded in 2007 to cover most of the city's businesses.
NELP staff also supported similar campaigns in San Francisco, California, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Paul Sonn, psonn@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

Darin L. Dalmat, Bringing Economic Justice Closer to Home: The Legal Viability of Local Minimum Wage Laws Under Home Rule, 39 Columbia Journal of Law & Social Problems 93 (2005).

Economic Policy Institute: Minimum Wage Issue Guide

Raise the Wage Kansas

Santa Fe Living Wage Network

University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute

UC Berkeley Labor Center

State Minimum Wage

As the value of the federal minimum wage has steeply eroded, many states have taken the important step of establishing a higher state minimum wage. In the process, states not only boost wages for working families who are struggling to get by, but they also play a key role in building momentum to increase the federal minimum wage. States that have a higher cost of living will continue to have a role in establishing higher state minimum wages than the federal floor, too.

NELP has a long history of supporting grassroots campaigns to raise state minimum wages. We work with coalitions of community organizations, worker centers, advocacy organizations, and labor unions to raise the minimum wage in states across the country - either through legislative campaigns or by putting the issue to voters through statewide ballot initiatives.

In each state, NELP helps design policies that not only raise the minimum wage, but that also provide other key reforms to protect workers in low-wage industries: closing loopholes that exclude companion care workers and some farmworkers from minimum wage protections; raising the minimum wage that employers must pay tipped workers, regardless of how much they earn in tips; and providing automatic annual cost-of-living increases to protect the minimum wage from erosion in the future. Each state that adopts these reforms helps to set precedent for these innovations at the federal level.

Past Projects

NELP staff supported successful ballot initiative campaigns in 2004 and 2006 that gave voters the opportunity to raise the minimum wage, raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, and enact automatic annual cost-of-living increases in eight states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio. In all, 62% of voters in these states supported the minimum wage initiatives, including 76% and 73% in Missouri and Montana, respectively. More than 1.5 million workers got a raise due to the 2006 ballot initiatives alone. NELP staff also worked to defend these victories when they were challenged.

NELP has also supported numerous successful legislative campaigns to raise the minimum wage in states ranging from New York and Michigan to Arkansas and New Mexico.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Paul Sonn, psonn@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

AFL-CIO

Economic Policy Institute: Minimum Wage Issue Guide

Let Justice Roll

Jobs with Justice

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United

Federal Minimum Wage

In 2007, Congress finally raised the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade, legislating three increases from 2007-2009. Despite this modest increase, workers who earn the minimum wage continue to struggle to make ends meet, especially given skyrocketing food and energy prices. In fact, the real purchasing power of the federal minimum wage has eroded by nearly a third over the past 40 years.

Worse, some workers cannot even count on this minimal protection. Federal law allows employers to pay tipped workers - including restaurant servers, car wash workers, and nail salon technicians among others - a lower minimum wage that has been frozen at just $2.13 for over 19 years (since 1991). Other workers are excluded entirely from federal minimum wage protections, including some farm workers and workers who provide home-based companionship care to the elderly and infirm.

NELP is a leader in the national movement to restore the federal minimum wage and ensure that it applies to all workers. By supporting numerous successful state minimum wage campaigns, NELP helped build momentum for the last federal minimum wage increase, which was an important first step for working families. NELP continues to work with networks of community organizations, worker centers, labor unions, and policy allies to strengthen the national wage floor.

Specifically, NELP advocates for federal minimum wage reform featuring four key elements:

Restoring the Historic Value of the Federal Minimum Wage: The federal minimum should be restored to its historic purchasing power. As a benchmark, the minimum wage from 1968 would be worth over $10 per hour in today's dollars.
Providing Annual Cost-of-Living Increases: To protect its real value from eroding in the future, the minimum wage should automatically increase each year to keep up with the rising cost of living. Ten states have already adopted this key reform.
Raising the Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers: The minimum wage for tipped workers should be restored to at least its historic level, which was 60% of the full minimum wage. Nearly half of all states have already raised their minimum wages for tipped workers substantially above the federal level.
Closing Archaic Loopholes: Workers in low-wage industries should not be exempt from minimum wage and overtime protections due to archaic loopholes, many of which disproportionately impact women, immigrant workers, and people of color. States are increasingly taking action to close loopholes and protect these workers, many of whom are performing physically and emotionally exhausting jobs, for example, companion care workers.

Economic Impact

The long-standing decline of the minimum wage has contributed to the growth of income inequality over the past three decades. In 2006, a group of 650 economists (including five Nobel laureates) released a letter making a case for minimum wage increases, explaining that the falling value of the minimum wage "is causing hardship for low-wage workers and their families." In addition, over the past decade, empirical economic research has found that increases in the minimum wage have not resulted in discernible job losses. As the President's Council of Economic Advisors found in 1999, "[T]he weight of the evidence suggests that modest increases in the minimum wage have had very little or no effect on employment." Higher wages also create incentives for employers to invest in job training and promote a more stable workforce.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Paul Sonn, psonn@nelp.org.

Other key resources:

AFL-CIO

Economic Policy Institute: Minimum Wage Issue Guide

Let Justice Roll

Minimum Wage: Information, Opinion, Research

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United

Economic and Workforce Development

Good jobs sustain our communities, strengthen our economy, and stand at the heart of America's vision of opportunity. But the past three decades have seen continued erosion of the manufacturing jobs that used to support our middle class - while growing numbers of Americans spend their careers stuck in low-wage, dead-end service jobs.

Rebuilding opportunity for working families will mean engaging the core problems of our economy: how to support competitive industries, how to train workers in the skills required, and how to ensure the creation of sufficient numbers of good jobs. Communities across the country are therefore exploring a range of new policy tools to ensure that economic and workforce development delivers living wage jobs, quality training, and the supports that workers need to weather change.

NELP supports this movement by partnering with community groups, employers, unions and policymakers on the following strategies to create and sustain good jobs:

Job Standards for Economic Development

Millions of Americans today spend their careers in low-wage service industries and other growth sectors that cannot be outsourced. NELP is developing new strategies for shifting these industries towards a higher wage, higher productivity model by attaching job standards to economic development programs.
One City/One Future: Redefining Economic Development in New York City

Cities like New York have enjoyed strong growth for more than a decade. Yet working families are increasingly squeezed by eroding wages and spiraling housing costs. In response, NELP is collaborating on a new economic development agenda that harnesses the city's growth to create good jobs, affordable housing and sustainable neighborhoods.
Good Food and Good Jobs for Underserved Communities

Low-income neighborhoods across the country face a chronic shortage of stores selling healthy, affordable food - as well as a chronic shortage of good jobs. NELP is partnering on a pilot program in New York City that will bring quality supermarkets with living wage jobs to underserved communities.
Trade Adjustment Assistance

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program is a critical source of income support and retraining for workers who have lost their jobs because of globalization. NELP helps workers gain access to TAA and advocates for reforms so that the program can fulfill its promise to workers, communities and companies in the 21^st century.
Midwest Economic Adjustment Initiative

Midwestern states face significant ongoing job loss as automotive and other manufacturing industries restructure. NELP is responding with model rapid response policies to help avert layoffs and support dislocated workers with employment services. NELP is also exploring new strategies for revitalizing the heartland and supporting the renewal of manufacturing.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Paul Sonn, psonn@nelp.org (for our jobs standards initiatives) or Rick McHugh, rmchugh@nelp.org (for our economic adjustment initiatives).

Criminal Records and Employment

Millions of Americans - one in four adults - have arrest or conviction records that often follow them throughout their lives. Most employers now conduct criminal background checks, potentially derailing qualified workers who are rebuilding their lives or who have inaccurate records or minor offenses. As a result, many employers are losing out on qualified workers in industries as diverse as trucking, health care and private security, where there are serious labor shortages.

NELP has been a leader in the movement to restore fairness to the process of criminal background checks and remove unnecessary or badly-designed barriers to the employment of people with criminal records. We promote model employment policies and basic protections that allow qualified workers with records to attain and retain quality jobs, in the following areas:

Federal and State Policy Reforms

Especially since September 11^th, more federal and state laws have imposed broad new mandates denying employment to large numbers of workers who have a criminal record. Working with allied organizations, NELP has used its expertise in occupational licensing laws to develop model reforms that improve the reliability of criminal background checks and reward rehabilitation.
City Hiring Initiatives

Every year more than 700,000 people are released from U.S. prisons looking for work and a new way of life, many of them in cities. Working in partnership with advocates and city officials, NELP has played a key role promoting city hiring policies that reduce unfair barriers to employment by restricting consideration of an individual's criminal history until the final stages of the hiring process. NELP also maintains a comprehensive inventory of model city and county hiring reforms.
Employment Rights of Workers with Criminal Records

Anti-discrimination and consumer laws provide critical protections for workers with criminal records. But too often these laws are not enforced. NELP is working to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Credit Reporting Act to expand job opportunities for people with criminal records.
Transportation Worker Background Checks

Over 1.5 million port workers nationwide are required by federal law to pass a new FBI criminal background check in order to continue working in the ports. NELP joined with unions and port security officials to help these and other transportation workers navigate new background checks and keep their jobs.

See also our work in the area of Economic and Workforce Development, which can often be leveraged to increase employment opportunities for workers with criminal records.

For more information on our work in this area, please contact Maurice Emsellem, emsellem@nelp.org.

Resources

State and Federal Minimum Wage Bills (as of Jan 28, 2012) (January 28, 2012)
Webinar: Implementation & Impact of Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011 (January 27, 2012)
PowerPoint: Implementation & Impact of Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011 (January 27, 2012)
CA State Assembly Committee on Boys & Men of Color (January 20, 2012)
Fact Sheet: Prosecutorial Discretion and Immigrant Workers (January 19, 2012)
Winning Wage Justice: Policy Options (January 17, 2012)
Winning Wage Justice: Talking Points (January 17, 2012)
Read More »

About the Immigrant Worker Justice Project

Immigrant Worker Justice Project Staff

Unemployment Insurance: Keeping the Promise Today and Tomorrow

NELP's National Conference ǀ Washington DC, December 5-6, 2011

Plenaries:

The Federal Landscape of Unemployment Insurance Challenges and Priorities

Filling the Good Jobs Deficit: An Economic Recovery Agenda for Our States and Cities

Workshops:

Defending State UI Programs: Responding to Proposals to Cut Benefits ǀ Moderated by Rick McHugh, NELP

Strategies for Reemployment and Layoff Aversion ǀ Moderated by Christine Riordan, NELP

The $38 Billion Question: What States and the Federal Government can do to Rescue Insolvent UI Programs ǀ Moderated by Mike Evangelist and Rick McHugh, NELP

Strategies to Support Families Confronting the End of UI Benefits ǀ Moderated by Maurice Emsellem, NELP

Anatomy of Effective State UI Campaigns: Pennsylvania 2011 ǀ Moderated by Mike Evangelist, NELP

Preserving Strong State UI Programs through Research ǀ Moderated by Rebecca Dixon, NELP

Forging a Fair and Balanced State Response to UI Overpayments ǀ Moderated by Claire McKenna, NELP

Access and Eligibility: UI Advocacy at the Agency Level ǀ Moderated by George Wentworth, NELP

NELP’s Free Webinar Series

Improving Life Outcomes

Strengthening Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability

Mending Our Built Environment

Job Creation and Economic Recovery

Development Director

NELP 2011 Awards Dinner: An Evening to Honor Work

Skadden Fellow

Senior Policy Analyst

Transforming Communities

Policy Analyst

Policy Analyst

Web and Campaign Associate

Communications Director

Senior Finance & Administrative Specialist

Policy Analyst

Managing Director, Finance & Administration

Pro Bono Attorney

Minimum Wage Campaign Coordinator

Staff Attorney

Policy Analyst

Staff Attorney

Policy Analyst

Communications and Development Associate

Staff Attorney

NELP 2009 Unemployment Insurance Reform Conference

Moving UI Modernization in the States:

Financing & Trust Fund Solvency:

UI Best Practices:

UI Administrative Infrastructure:

Senior Staff Attorney

Conference Logistics

THE CONFERENCE SITE

HOTEL

TRAVEL

Wage Conference 2009

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Changing Workforce / Changing Economy

Chapter 1 - Low-wage Worker Access

Chapter 2 - Access for Women and Working Families

Chapter 3 - Eligibility for Nonstandard Workers

Chapter 4 - Build Income Security

Chapter 5 - Maximize Training Opportunities

Chapter 6 - Financing for Long-term Solvency

Chapter 7 - Accessibility and Fair Administration

Unregulated Work in the Global City

Great Lakes Economic Revitalization Summit

NELP Announces Merger with Brennan Center’s Economic Justice Project

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Close the Gaps in the Unemployment Insurance system

Extended Jobless Benefits

Last Year for States to Modernize Unemployment Insurance with Recovery Act Incentive Funds

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