Your Support, Their Stories
Below are client stories that are exemplary of our work here at First Shift Justice Project. We hope these stories help you understand our work and our clients' experiences. This is part of our first Recurring Donor Campaign Week, taking place Sept. 28 - Oct. 2. Sign up to become a recurring donor here.
All client names have been changed to protect the anonymity of our clients.
Legal Services for Pregnant Workers
Amanda works in Maryland in a fast food restaurant and lives in Ward 3. She disclosed her pregnancy and her supervisor immediately responded with negative comments. Her schedule was subsequently reduced and her start time was changed to an earlier time. Amanda requested reasonable accommodations because of the physicality of certain tasks and to change her start time back. That request was initially denied. Her supervisor did end up granting the request to change the start time back, but ignored her request to change her job duties and, as a result, Amanda slipped and fell while on the job. After filing a charge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a First Shift lawyer was able to assist the client in obtaining a monetary resolution in the amount of $15,000.
D.C. Paid Family Leave
Marcella, a restaurant worker in Ward 6, contacted First Shift when she had trouble with the identity verification process for her DC paid family leave benefits application. A representative had mistakenly set up her account with a misspelled name and Marcella was having trouble communicating with the representative to get the issue corrected. Our Bilingual Paralegal helped Marcella draft an email in English to the representative explaining the situation and was able to get the misspelling corrected. Marcella was approved for almost $1,000 in paid family leave benefits, for several prenatal appointments she had taken. The correction of this error also made it easier for Marcella to apply for paid leave benefits when she took leave from work a few months later, to recover from childbirth and bond with her new baby.
Domestic Workers
Lucille is a domestic worker who works in Ward 3 and lives in Maryland. For several years, one of her employers cut her hours in half over the summer. However, this summer Lucille was only given a few days notice that she would not be needed at all until September. Lucille reached out to us because she wanted to know if they violated her rights with the abruptness of the notification.
Our Domestic Worker Staff Attorney explained that without a contract it may be difficult to find a violation has occurred and suggested the client create a contract to offer this employer and any other employers that delineates a cancellation policy, so she has more notice. Our Domestic Worker Attorney worked with the client on drafting this contract. Recently, the attorney saw Lucille at an event and asked for an update. While the employer did not want to sign the contract, Lucille was able to be more assertive with making her reasonable demands for notice. Though she will likely leave this employment soon, Lucille now feels more empowered negotiating with future employers.
Medical Providers
Clarissa is a program manager at a non-profit in Ward 1. She was sexually assaulted in March; her employer permitted her to go on unpaid leave to recover, and Clarissa sought D.C. paid leave benefits to replace her wages. Clarissa communicated multiple times with her medical provider for the documentation necessary to apply for DC paid family leave benefits but the provider was unresponsive or would send back incorrectly completed forms. A First Shift attorney worked with Clarissa and her medical provider to complete the necessary medical documentation forms. The attorney also explained to Clarissa that she could ask for up to 12 weeks if she needed additional time off, or apply for intermittent leave to transition back into work.
Language access
Gabi worked in a D.C. hospital and needed assistance with her prenatal and parental leave benefit applications. Each time she called the D.C. Office of Paid Family Leave for assistance in Spanish, she waited more than 30 minutes without receiving support. First Shift’s Bilingual Paralegal helped Gabi get answers to her questions about D.C. Paid Leave benefits and assisted her in setting up her account on the portal so she could apply. First Shift’s Bilingual Paralegal also supported Gabi in communicating with her bank, who had no Spanish speaking employees, to obtain documentation of her wages to provide to the D.C. Office of Paid Family Leave.
All client names have been changed to protect the anonymity of our clients.
