Towards Justice

Aside from its pro bono legal work, Towards Justice advocates for an increased minimum wage, overtime pay protections, and “individual liability for employers who steal wages,” among other topics. ³  The organization opposes the labor system of Colorado’s prisons, which punishes inmates who do not comply, and has accused the state of Colorado of “engag[ing] in persistent and widespread violations of the state’s constitutional prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude.” ⁴

Notable Lawsuits

Towards Justice represented three California contract workers in a 2022 lawsuit against driving platforms Uber and Lyft. The plaintiffs claimed that the platforms violated antitrust laws by not allowing contractors to set their own rates and sidestepped fair labor laws by preventing drivers from seeing how far away the destination was before accepting the gig. ⁵In an interview with Reuters, Towards Justice attorney Rachel Dempsey accused Uber and Lyft of  “trying to avoid the responsibilities of an employer” such as providing benefits and W-2 status while keeping a significant amount of control over drivers’ hours and pay. ⁶ The lawsuit is still ongoing as of July 2022.

Towards Justice won a case in 2019 on behalf of international sheepherders who claimed that ranches were colluding as part of a cartel to fix wages through the Western Range Association (WRA). ⁷ According to the sheepherders, WRA would process their applications and assign them to a ranch without allowing them to pick a ranch based on wages, in violation of federal antitrust laws. Towards Justice attorney David Seligman said that even low-wage visa workers “should be able to benefit from the fair competition that our antitrust laws ensure.” ⁷ The court ruled that ranchers could not have temporary or seasonal visa workers “fill permanent labor needs,” but instead must hire citizens or provide a permanent visa for non-citizen laborers which would require them to be paid a higher wage. ⁸

In 2019, Towards Justice obtained a damages settlement of $65.6 million on behalf of au pairs. ⁹ Plaintiffs in the case included Johana Paola Beltran, a young woman from Columbia who was supposedly hired to experience a “cultural exchange” while helping to care for her host family’s children. Beltran told the Washington Post that she was “treated…like a maid,” paid $4.35 per hour to complete extensive housekeeping and childcare, and some nights did not even have food to eat. ¹⁰ Nina DiSalvo, the then-executive director of Towards Justice, argued that au pair agencies needed to be regulated by the U.S. Department of Labor if the companies wanted to hire full-time nannies or maids. ¹⁰

Leadership

David Seligman has served as executive director of Towards Justice since 2018. Seligman’s career began as research fellow with the New York Police Department in 2006, after which he took internships relating to worker’s rights and labor laws. He received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2010 and spent three years as a law clerk. Seligman joined the National Consumer Law Center in 2013, where he worked as an attorney until 2015 and still serves as a contributing author. He then served as litigation counsel for Towards Justice until his appointment to executive director in 2018. ¹¹

Alexander “Alex” Hood is the founder of Towards Justice, where he currently serves as an attorney. According to his bio on the Towards Justice website, Hood graduated from Williams College and Boston Law School. He served as a high school history teacher before founding Towards Justice in 2014. ¹²

Financials

Towards Justice had revenues of nearly $4 million in 2019. Its expenses totaled over $775,000 and it had assets of $3.4 million. Its grants and contributions were roughly equivalent to what it received in 2018, but its program service revenue jumped from under $6,000 to over $3.4 million in 2019. ¹³