Towards Justice

Background Statement

Towards Justice's litigators help workers advance legal claims that address systemic injustice. We use antitrust, anti-slavery, fraud, wage-and-hour, and common-law challenges to address the wide variety of practices that nickel-and-dime low-wage workers out of their hard-earned wages. We have represented a hundred thousand childcare workers alleging wage suppression, tens of thousands of immigrant detainees alleging forced labor, and hundreds of construction workers, shepherds, manicurists, janitors, and kitchen hood cleaners. We are leaders in challenging anti-competitive practices that reduce worker bargaining power and support marginalized people who challenge structural impediments to their advancement.

While our litigators seek back wages, fight forced labor, and combat fraud, our team also engages with low-wage workers to understand their challenges and the creative new ways employers are undermining worker power and nickel and diming their workers. We also proactively educate workers about their rights and help them to identify illegal practices, provide free, confidential employment rights consultations, and connect wage theft victims to the partners best positioned to help. Those partners are part of our non-traditional network of enforcers, which includes private collaborating attorneys and a variety of municipal, state, and federal enforcers. When workers win, we work together to publicize their success, raise awareness of the scourge of wage theft, and deter future abuse.

Finally, Towards Justice strategically engages with policy makers and public officials on issues that affect worker power and enforcement of workplace protections. That work can involve, among other things, (1) drafting comments to administrative agencies, including to the Colorado Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Labor; (2) testifying before state legislative bodies, as we have done in support of legislation to expand public enforcement of worker protections; (3) advocating before court administrators regarding access to courts for low-wage workers; and (4) drafting legislation, as we have done in support of legislation regulating no-hire, no-poach, and non-compete agreements, legislation that would create whistle-blower enforcement mechanisms for violations of state worker and consumer protection laws, and a city ordinance to expand city-level worker protections. We generally do not lead policy campaigns, but instead focus our resources on areas where we bring unique insight or expertise.