Biography

Najah A. Farley is a senior staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project (NELP). Ms. Farley joined NELP in 2017. She is currently focusing her work on improving work quality through enforcement in the areas of minimum wage, wage theft, and retaliation. Ms. Farley also provides technical assistance and amicus support to attorneys representing clients in low-wage industries. Ms. Farley has written amici curiae briefs on the misclassification of gig workers, mandatory arbitration, and the retention of tips in the restaurant industry, amongst other topics. Ms. Farley is also a member of the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals, where she reviews decisions of the New York State Department of Labor in the areas of wage and hour.

Prior to joining NELP, Ms. Farley was an Assistant Attorney General (AAG) in the Labor Bureau of the New York State Office of the Attorney General. While there, she investigated violations of minimum wage, overtime, prevailing wage, and other violations of New York State’s labor laws. As an AAG, Ms. Farley also represented the New York State Department of Labor in its enforcement of state labor laws. Ms. Farley also worked on reforming on-call scheduling practices and curbing the usage of non-competition agreements in the retail and fast-food industries. Previously, Ms. Farley worked as a trial attorney at the United States Department of Labor in the Philadelphia Regional Solicitor’s office, where she litigated violations of the Mine Safety and Health Act on behalf of miners in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia.

Ms. Farley is originally from Cleveland and grew up on the east side in the Buckeye and Shaker Square area, graduating from Shaker Heights High School. Ms. Farley is passionate about workers’ rights and improving the conditions of working people in Cleveland and nationwide, having come from a long line of Black workers in the Cleveland area by way of the Great Migration from Alabama, Tennessee, and West Virginia.