Los Angeles Black Worker Center

Los Angeles, CA

This is the 2023 fellowship description for this mentor organization. 

The LA Black Worker Center (LABWC) builds organized power among Black workers and the extended community to reverse disproportionate levels of unemployment and underemployment. The Center's mission is to increase access to quality careers, address employment discrimination, and improve conditions in industries that employ Black workers.

The Center builds authentic grassroots leadership among workers to challenge and undo public policies and corporate practices that promote inequality in the labor market and perpetuate inferior jobs in the Black community. The Center is the first in California and will give students a practical learning experience of the black workforce in Los Angeles.

The Peggy Browning Fellow will be on the front lines of fighting against employment discrimination faced by black workers in the hiring process and in the workplace. Our Fellow will do so in two ways: helping to staff the Black Worker Center's employment discrimination clinic, including expanding the clinic to other workplace rights, and helping to address the legal challenges in building equity in hiring for Black workers.

1. Employment Discrimination Clinic Intake and Expansion

The Los Angeles area currently lacks any significant legal capacity to assist lower-income workers who are affected by racial discrimination in employment. African-American workers are twice as likely to file employment discrimination claims but have half the chance of getting their cases heard. In partnership with the the UCLA Law School and Legal Aid at Work, the Black Worker Center has developed a legal clinic focused on employment rights and race discrimination. Responding to demonstrated member need, the Peggy Browning Fellow will also work with these and other partners to expand the clinic to accommodate a broader variety of workplace rights, including unemployment insurance, wage and hour violations, and worker's compensation.

The Peggy Browning Fellow will assist in staffing the LA BWC legal clinic by:

  • Conducting interviews with workers and organizers to identify potential employment law, labor law and health and safety violations and assess workers' individual issues to determine the appropriate referral, if any;
  • File wage and hour claims with the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) or the City of LA office of Wage Standards (OWS);
  • File employment discrimination claims with the appropriate governmental agency (such as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP);
  • Conduct "Know Your Rights" presentations that address race discrimination issues, as well as other traditional employment rights violations such as wage and hour claims, unemployment benefits, worker's compensation, and discrimination based on former incarceration; and
  • Assist with filing administrative race discrimination complaints with state and federal agencies.
  • Referring workers who experience discrimination to the LA BWC legal clinic.

The Peggy Browning Fellow will be the LA BWC liaison between community and university partners of the legal clinic. The Peggy Browning Fellow will also assist in coordinating worker meetings with attorneys, tracking and charting worker cases and convening LABWC Legal Advisory Committee Meetings.

2. The 1,000 Strong Campaign: Addressing equity in hiring for Black workers in the public sector

The COVID 19 crisis has exacerbated the already precarious conditions for Black communities all over the country, and especially in LA County. African Americans are 8% of the county population and yet make up 34% of the unhoused population and are still seeing unemployment rates twice that of the national average. The 1,000 Strong Campaign seeks to secure 1,000 job placements in high road career focused jobs for Black workers, primarily in the public sector, by the end of 2022.

Given the legal constraints of proposition 209 and other local legislation there is a need for legal research and analysis on both local and state levels that will help support the campaign. The Peggy Browning Fellow will assist in the LA BWC's efforts to create a legal framework that supports our model of equitable hiring practices for Black workers.

  • Delivering training to members about local and state affirmative action laws;
  • Interview workers and identifying worker stories that highlight the necessity for targeted outreach and hiring programs;
  • Researching and identifying existing law and new law involving equity in hiring;
  • Researching and identifying case studies of similar initiatives that have found work arounds to laws such as prop 209

There is a strong emphasis on legal research and writing, focusing on developing a state and citywide legal framework for equitable hiring and presenting different legal strategies for advancing BWC campaigns focused on civil rights workplace protections and equity in hiring.

Interested students should be comfortable working directly with workers in a community organizing context, conducting interviews and other research on potential claims, and helping attorneys assemble information needed to bring claims and cases. Successful candidates will have excellent verbal and written communication skills, be detail-oriented, energetic, and have a commitment to organizing low-wage and disadvantaged workers. Some experience working with community/union organizers and lawyers is preferred.

The total ten-week stipend for this fellowship will be $7,000.

Address cover letter to:

Los Angeles Black Worker Center
5350 Crenshaw Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90043


https://www.lablackworkercenter.org