Sort by
Description
Three years ago, Antonio Vanegas took a job at a pita shop inside the food court at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in D.C.
In the media
Dave Jamieson
Members of Congress are calling on the government to get out in front of the growing income gap by addressing the low wages paid within its own buildings. In a July 2 letter to President Barack Obama, 17 House Democrats said the government needs to take action toward the fair treatment and decent
In the media
Cogan Schneier
New Jersey Senate heard arguments last week for legislation that would ban the exclusion of formerly incarcerated people from applying for jobs on the sole basis of their records. Part of the Opportunity to Compete Act in NJ, “ ban the box” proposals like this one refer to the box convicted felons
Blog
Jack Grauer
States used to have the authority to enforce usury laws, capping the excessive interest rates of any lender interested in transacting business with their citizens. Although usury laws are still on the books in some states across the country, when it comes to credit cards they are rendered useless by
Blog
Amy Traub
In America, employees have the right to stick together to form unions and bargain collectively. At least, we’ve got those rights on paper. In practice, many employers routinely violate rights to organize, threatening, harassing, and illegally firing workers, whenever employees try to band together.
Blog
Amy Traub
If you're part of the 9-to-5 crowd, chances are you wish you had more flexibility. But many low-income workers have the exact opposite problem: their hours vary wildly and they rarely know if they will get a full forty hours of work in a given week. Or even get work at all.
Blog
David Callahan
Come April 2014, New Yorkers will finally have the right to get sick. Thanks to a New York City Council vote last night overriding Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto, New York will become the largest city in the nation to guarantee paid sick days. It’s an important milestone, even for those of us
Blog
Amy Traub
For the past half century, one of the surest paths to well-heeled financial security was becoming a corporate lawyer. Your class background didn't matter all that much, as long as you were smart enough to get into a top law school and could then endure the brutal hours of an associate at a corporate
Blog
David Callahan
Workers at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center filed a complaint with the Labor Department on Monday alleging a slew of labor violations against their employers, including not being paid the minimum wage and working as many as 80 hours a week without overtime pay. The Reagan
In the media
Dave Jamieson
When employers check credit as part of their hiring it creates a vicious cycle: out-of-work Americans can’t pay down their debts because they don’t have a job, but they can’t get a job because would-be employers hold their consumer credit history against them.
Blog
Amy Traub