Economic Security

Our Workers’ Rights program advocates for low-wage immigrant workers. Over the last two years, the pandemic exposed the ways in which existing protections and safety nets have failed to adequately reach our client communities. In response, we documented and advocated for changes to address health and safety violations faced by low-wage workers during the pandemic. We also provided hundreds of consults to workers to help them obtain unemployment benefits and emergency pandemic relief; these consults further informed our advocacy for critical language access to benefits for workers with the Employment Development Department. All the while, we continued to help workers assert their workplace rights, win back wages, and organize to improve their working conditions.

Spotlight

In August 2021, 22 workers at Chinese restaurant Z&Y won a settlement of $1.61 million in a case we took on with the Chinese Progressive Association and the California Labor Commissioner’s Bureau of Field Enforcement. Inspired by the campaign organized by Kome workers with our support, which resulted in a multimillion dollar settlement in 2018, Z&Y staff had been mobilizing for over three years against wage theft and retaliation by management. The legal settlement against Z&Y not only compensates for stolen wages, tips, penalties, and interest, but also requires that the restaurant owners implement a new fair scheduling policy, provide workers’ rights training for supervisors and staff, translate workplace policies, and more. This hard-won victory is a testament to Z&Y staff’s sustained worker power despite the pandemic, and represents yet another achievement in the growing movement of low-income immigrant workers demanding equitable workplace conditions within and beyond the Bay Area.

Our Housing Rights program fights for tenants who are low-income, immigrants, elderly, or living with disabilities. We provide culturally and linguistically competent legal assistance to vulnerable Bay Area communities, which have experienced the highest rate of displacement in the nation. Throughout the statewide eviction moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic, we had been providing direct legal support to tenants facing evictions, harassment and unlawful actions from landlords. In addition, we have developed resources for community education to grow tenant power, and advocate for local and state policies to establish equity in housing and land use. Through a multi-prong approach centering impacted communities, we have supported tenants in fighting evictions, enforcing tenant rights, and establishing long-term solutions to protect and preserve affordable housing for our communities.

Spotlight

Alongside the rise of anti-Asian hate incidents across the country, the most vulnerable tenants in our communities have faced significant barriers at the state level when attempting to access benefits to which they are legally entitled. While collaborating with community partners on COVID-19 debt issues, we learned that non-English proficient members of our community were unable to access the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), a program devised to disburse rent relief funds for people financially impacted by COVID. With the stories we heard from our clients and the data collected, we filed a complaint on behalf of the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition along with AAAJ-LA and Bet Tzedek against the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) that administers ERAP. Especially after the end of the eviction moratorium, we continue to demand timely disbursement of rent relief funds, adequate language assistance throughout the application process, and equal access to this assistance for renters throughout the state.