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News

Kavanaugh Confirmation Process Must Be Halted In Wake Of Assault Survivor’s Courageous Disclosure

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National Employment Lawyers Association Calls On Senate To Halt Kavanaugh Confirmation Process, In Wake Of Assault Survivor’s Courageous Disclosure

The Executive Board of the National Employment Lawyers Association voted to oppose Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court over a month ago on the basis of his record on employment law, civil rights, and law pertaining to access to health care for working people. Since then, based on records that were available for review during his confirmation hearing, we learned that Kavanaugh likely misrepresented his positions on substantive issues including reproductive rights, and actively misled senators about his role in Bush-era “war on terror” policies, and receiving stolen emails. The hearing raised doubt about his honesty and integrity.Now, in the face of Christine Blasey Ford’s courageous disclosure, we are outraged that Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has not moved to halt the nomination process pending an investigation. Christine Blasey Ford disclosed her experience of sexual violence by Brett Kavanaugh when they were both high school students. Ford did not set out to make her story public, but after her letter was leaked to the media she has bravely come forward to tell her story.… Read More

Brett Kavanaugh Places The Interests Of Employers Over The Rights Of Employees

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Submitted Via Email: Oliver_Mittelstaedt@judiciary-dem.senate.gov

The Honorable Charles Grassley, Chairman
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein, Ranking Member
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
152 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chair Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein:

On behalf of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and its 4,000 circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country, I write to express our strong opposition to the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.

NELA is the largest professional membership organization in the country comprising lawyers who represent workers in labor, employment and civil rights disputes. Founded in 1985, NELA advances employee rights and serves lawyers who advocate for equality and justice in the American workplace. Our members litigate daily in every circuit, affording NELA a unique perspective on how employment cases actually play out on the ground. NELA strives to protect the rights of its members’ clients, and envisions a workplace in which employees will be paid at least a living wage in an environment free of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and capricious employment decisions; employees’ safety and livelihood … Read More

NELA Statement On SCOTUS Vacancy

Contact: Laura M. Flegel
NELA Legislative & Public Policy Director
(202) 898-2880 x.115
lflegel@nelahq.org

 

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Statement Of NELA Executive Director Terry O’Neill
On The United States Supreme Court Nomination

Terry O’Neill, Executive Director of the National Employment Lawyers Association, released the following statement in anticipation of Donald Trump’s nomination to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court.

The United States Supreme Court profoundly affects every important issue that touches the lives of working people: wages, protection from discrimination and harassment, access to the courts to seek redress for illegal treatment, voting rights, immigrant rights, and the list goes on. Working people across the U.S. deserve a fair-minded, independent nominee dedicated to upholding the rule of law and equal protection for all.

The politicization of the judicial nominations process at the hands of the Senate Majority Leadership must end. In 2016, Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) prevented the Supreme Court nominee of our previous President from getting so much as a hearing, an unprecedented political maneuver. Since early 2017, the leadership has rammed through dozens of district and circuit court nominees at breakneck speed. In doing so they have prevented … Read More

NELA Applauds Introduction Of Empower Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Terry O’Neill, Executive Director
(415) 296-7629
toneill@nelahq.org

NELA Applauds Introduction Of EMPOWER Act

Statement of Terry O’Neill, Executive Director of the National Employment Lawyers Association

OAKLAND, Calif., June 5, 2018 – For over 30 years, NELA lawyers have stood up for employees—case by case, day in and day out—in the fight against sexual harassment and other forms of workplace discrimination. Today we are proud to support the Ending the Monopoly of Power Over Workplace Harassment through Education and Reporting Act (“EMPOWER Act”), a bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

Under this bill, employers would no longer be able to silence survivors of workplace harassment through mandatory nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements, nor could they continue to write off their harassment-related legal bills as a mere “cost of doing business.” If enacted, the bill would also end the unfair tax penalty currently imposed on those who succeed in holding their employers accountable for unlawful harassment suffered at work.

The EMPOWER Act would establish a confidential tip line allowing the EEOC to gather and analyze nationwide data on workplace harassment. In addition, the bill would require publicly traded companies to disclose information about

… Read More

The Supreme Court turned its back on workers in Murphy Oil/Epic Systems

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Terry O’Neill, Executive Director
(415) 296-7629
toneill@nelahq.org

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U.S. Supreme Court Deals Major Blow To Employees’ Basic Rights

Statement of Terry O’Neill, Executive Director of the National Employment Lawyers Association

OAKLAND, Calif., May 21, 2018 – The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) is appalled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Ernst & Young, LLP v. Morris, and National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil, USA(“Murphy Oil”), allowing employers to sidestep federal labor laws intended to guarantee workers’ rights. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg aptly put it in her dissent from the majority opinion, the decision in this case is “egregiously wrong.”

Nearly 100 years ago, workers fought and died for the right to act collectively to resolve grievances and improve working conditions. Today, as more comes out about the systemic abuses—including harassment, discrimination, wage theft, and others—that pervade America’s workplaces, courts should expand employees’ ability to challenge unlawful practices, not suppress them as a bare majority of the Supreme Court has done.

The employers in the Murphy Oil trio of cases stood accused of illegally withholding overtime pay or other compensation, in violation of … Read More