The Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, also known as the Sugar Law Center, is a Michigan-based public interest law firm and advocacy organization that promotes left-of-center policies through litigation and advocacy. The center is named for former labor-union attorney and Socialist Party member Maurice Sugar and his wife Jane.

The organization primarily works on labor issues such as assisting pro-bono clients in litigation concerning unemployment insurance claims and employee-employer disputes. The organization also supports left-of-center environmental policies, increased government funding at the local level, and opposes the development of low-income neighborhoods. The organization is primarily focused on Michigan but has engaged in litigation and conducted advocacy efforts elsewhere in the United States. ^{1 2 3}

The Sugar Law Center is funded by left-of-center grantmaking foundations including the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. ³

Background

The Sugar Law Center is named for Maurice Sugar, who was involved in the founding of the National Lawyers Guild in 1937, and his wife Jane. Maurice Sugar was an attorney best known for working as the general counsel to the United Auto Workers union in the 1930s and 1940s. He was central to autoworker labor disputes with major auto manufacturers in Detroit during that time and during that time he defended the union in “the injunction hearings on the Dodge Main strike and defended the legality of the sit-down tactic.” Sugar was a lifelong socialist and member of the Michigan and U.S. Socialist parties, which ultimately led to him being dismissed from the UAW in the late 1940s amid increasing anti-communist sentiment. ⁴

Maurice Sugar died in 1974 and the Sugar Law Center was founded with a “starting donation” from Sugar’s estate nearly two decades later in 1991. The Sugar Law Center is dedicated to continuing “Sugar’s legacy by representing those who suffered injustice in the workplace and social injustice.” ⁵

Activity

Early legal action brought by the Sugar Law Center includes taking legal action regarding the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) Act, which requires a 60-day notice to employees in advance of manufacturing plant closings or mass layoffs. The organization has also sued regarding various environmental and labor disputes including against for-profit vocational centers, and suing the state of Michigan regarding pollution in Flint, Michigan. The group also worked with Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) to sue regarding food service industry standards. ⁵

The Sugar Law Center has also filed complaints with the EPA’s Office of Civil Rights regarding alleged Title VI violations and sued the state of Michigan over its emergency manager law, which allows for the state to intervene in bankrupt city and state government matters in coordination with community and organized labor groups. The center also sued and settled the first lawsuit regarding transgender employees under state workplace discrimination laws. ¹

Funding

The Sugar Law Center is funded by left-of-center grant making foundations and organizations including the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Erb Foundation, the Michigan State Bar Foundation, the Dresner Foundation, the Oakland County Bar Foundation, the Family and Workers Fund, The Gerald Beckwith Constitutional Liberties Fund, the Kazan McLain Partners Foundation, and the Fund for Equal Justice. ³

1. “Our Office.” Sugar Law Center. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://www.sugarlaw.org/our-office
2. “Our Work.” Sugar Law Center. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://www.sugarlaw.org/our-work-1
3. “Home.” Sugar Law Center. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://www.sugarlaw.org/
4. Johnson, Christopher. Maurice Sugar: Law, Labor, and the Left in Detroit, 1912-1950. Wayne State University Press. 2018. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/maurice-sugar
5. “Beginning of The Sugar Law Center.” Sugar Law Center. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://www.sugarlaw.org/new-page