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Proposed Changes in Federal Rules Threaten to Rig Courts in Favor of Corporations, against Working People

Posted on 02/06/2014

For Immediate Release

Contact Michael O’Keefe Cowles, Attorney, Equal Justice Center – Dallas
469-203-2150
mcowles@equaljusticecenter.org

Dallas Hearing on Feb. 7 to address controversial changes to federal courts
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A hearing on proposed changes to alter the federal rules of civil procedures is set for Friday, Feb. 7, in Dallas. The proposed rule changes would significantly alter our legal system, making it much harder for poor people, small businesses, and all those with minimal resources to access the justice system and have their day in court.

Opponents of the proposed changes include national and state-wide civil rights and workers’ rights organizations as well as local private lawyers, including the NAACP, the Equal Justice Center, Alliance for Justice, National Employment Law Project, National Employment Lawyers Association, and many others.

“These changes would create an unnecessary hurdle for working class people to exercise their rights and have their day in court. The changes fundamentally alter the balance in the justice system in favor of big corporate interests,” said Michael O’Keefe Cowles, head of the Dallas office of the Equal Justice Center.

“Currently poor and working class people already face barriers to the justice system because their claims are often for minimal amounts, and they often cannot obtain an attorney. The proposed rules would further restrict access to justice for these people by restricting what information litigants could have access to when facing bigger and much more well-funded corporate opponents,” said Cowles.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure establish how civil lawsuits are filed, pursued, and tried in federal courts. The proposed Rules changes would severely limit discovery, decrease the number and length of depositions and remove incentives to preserve critical documents. This will have a chilling effect on civil rights, employment discrimination, and other protections because the information needed to prove these types of case is often in the sole possession of the corporation.

  • EJC Mobilizes to Defend Immigrant Justice

    EJC Mobilizes to Defend Immigrant Justice

    Since November 2016, the Equal Justice Center has dramatically intensified its long-standing work defending justice for immigrants and protecting the integrity of our communities from the new threats they now face from both the federal and state governments. In addition our immigrant justice mission operates hand-in-glove with our workplace justice mission, combatting wage theft and exploitation of low-wage working people, a very large proportion of whom are immigrants.

    Working alongside our vital community partners, the EJC has taken a leading role organizing, leading, and staffing an ongoing series of legal education and assistance clinics for immigrant families. Our first immigrant fairness clinic was launched in Austin only ten days after the 2016 election. Since then we have led and helped staff more than twenty such clinics in a range of large and small cities across Texas. EJC also assists a steady stream of immigrant working families through individual legal assistance in our offices and in the community.

    Included in the immigrant rights legal support provided through our various clinics and our individual legal representation are know-your-rights education about how to protect against unjust immigration enforcement; legal assessment for various kinds of potential immigration relief; legal help with citizenship applications and DACA applications for those who are eligible; and “family preparedness” planning for the custody and care of children, homes, and property in the dread event of detention and deportation.

    The EJC plans to continue doing all we can up to the limits of our resources to help immigrant families and workers protect themselves, safely contribute to our communities, and defend the fair treatment they deserve.

    You can help by Donating to Support Immigrant Fairness or Volunteering to Support Immigrant Fairness.

  • EJC Helps Clients Recover $1.1 Million In Unpaid Wages in 2017

    EJC Helps Clients Recover $1.1 Million In Unpaid Wages in 2017

    The Equal Justice Center experienced record success in recovering unpaid wages for low-wage working men and women in 2017, recouping more $1.1 million in wage cases during the last year.

    With these newest successes in 2017, EJC and its clients have this year surpassed a new milestone – more than $10.5 million total recovered in wage cases for low-wage working men and women, since EJC began its wage justice work back in 2003.

    The 2017 wage recoveries came in cases brought by landscapers, restaurant workers, construction laborers, asbestos removal workers, agricultural and food processing workers, and cleaning service workers, among others. Their claims typically challenged employers’ complete non-payment of any wages; failure to pay workers for all of their work hours; or violations of laws requiring payment of minimum wage, overtime, or prevailing wage laws.

    The EJC clients who have brought and won these cases include U.S. citizens, authorized immigrants, and undocumented immigrants. EJC provides legal assistance to working people regardless of their immigration status.

    The wage recoveries resulted from civil legal action brought by the unpaid workers themselves with EJC providing the workers’ legal representation.

    “This success is especially remarkable and gratifying in 2017, since low-wage workers and immigrant workers are so hard-pressed in our present legal climate,” remarked Bill Beardall, EJC attorney and executive director. “This shows how we can still enforce employment rights and move justice forward, when we put the law into the hands of the workers themselves, empowering them to act as ‘private attorneys general.’”

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