Direct Legal Representation of low-wage workers, especially immigrant worker
Community Education and Outreach Presentations
We partner with, work alongside, and/or provide outreach presentations to the following organizations:
- Mexican Consulates of Tucson and Phoenix
- Southside Workers’ Center
- YWCA of Southern Arizona
- International Rescue Committee
- Community Foodbank of Southern Arizona
- Pima Community College
- NAU Center for Health Equity Research
- El Rio Adult Learning Center
- Literacy Connects
- Tucson Youth Development; San Miguel High School; Catalina High School
- Arizona Industrial Commission
- U.S. Department of Labor
- Arizona Civil Rights Division
- Arizona Employment Lawyer’s Association
- State Bar of Arizona, Employment/Labor Division
Policy Research and Advocacy at the intersection of immigrant justice and workers’ rights
Our clinic strives to use its direct legal services work to inform policy debates in the state and the nation. Through our work, we have a rare opportunity to gain a rich and grounded understanding of the types and frequency of legal violations of immigrants’ rights. We aim to collect data, bring together stakeholders, and advocate for policy reform based on our understanding of the challenges facing the population we serve.
In September 2014, clinic students were involved in the research and follow-up advocacy surrounding the Bacon Immigration Law & Policy Program report, Out of the Shadows: A Report on the Working Conditions of Immigrant Women Workers in Tucson.
In December 2015, clinic students authored PAID SICK TIME IN TUCSON: Stories from Workers, Service Providers, and Employers (PDF). This document provides stories from throughout the Tucson community that capture the far-reaching consequences when workers are unable to receive paid sick days off to care for themselves or their family members.
Current Projects include:
- In December of 2019, the clinic made new law in Arizona in its case, Tolano v. El Rio Bakery, in which a federal court upheld immigrant workers’ rights to recover damages when their employer violated Arizona’s Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act (minimum wage and earned paid sick time law).
- Immigrant Worker Justice During COVID-19
- Building and Incubating Worker-Owned Cooperative Networks for a Regenerative Society—a Haury Partnering Grant Project
- More than a Promise?: Arizona’s Earned Paid Sick Time Law and Immigrant Workers