The firm has represented more than fifty pro bono and public interest clients during recent years. Most of these cases (as is the case with our practice as a whole) result in negotiated settlements without filing a lawsuit. Some of these individual matters include:
- Two female Florence, KY police officers who were denied reasonable work accommodations during their pregnancies.
- A group of workers who spent months after the 9/11 attacks cleaning offices, apartments and stores near Ground Zero but were not paid proper overtime wages.
- Four low-wage factory workers whose supervisor persistently sexually harassed them.
- A cleaning woman whose employer forced her to work increased hours and perform dangerous manual labor when she became pregnant, and ultimately fired her for going to a doctor appointment.
- A gay, HIV-positive administrative assistant who was fired after complaining about discrimination by his supervisor on the basis of his sexual orientation and perceived disability.
- A low-wage immigrant restaurant worker who was fired after falling at work and requiring surgery.
- Two immigrant youth from Virginia who sought to have their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status reinstated and extended for two years
O&G has often collaborated with non-profit organizations to represent thousands of low-wage workers in class action cases for violations of their civil rights and/or their rights under federal and state wage and hour laws. For example, the firm is co-counseling with Youth Represent, Public Interest Law Center, Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, NAACP, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Legal Defense Fund, Greater Hartford Legal Aid, and countless other organizations in a series of background-check cases, representing applicants barred from employment because of their criminal records. These background-check cases are against Barclays, Madison Square Garden, Target, SEPTA, and other corporations. O&G also is co-counsel with Towards Justice on a forced labor class action representing immigrant detainees in GEO’s private prison in Colorado, with the Impact Fund on a gender discrimination case against Costco, and with the ACLU on a pregnancy discrimination case against Pacific Maritime Association.