Interfaith Alliance of Colorado Public Forum in Lakewood

This summer, anti-immigrant extremists are gathering signatures to put mandatory vehicle impoundment initiatives on the ballots in Aurora, Denver, and Lakewood. These proposed ballot initiatives would require law enforcement officers to immediately impound the vehicles of individuals not carrying a driver’s license and fine each person $2,700 to retrieve their car.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
7:00pm - 8:30pm

Lakewood United Methodist Church
1390 Brentwood St., Lakewood, CO

Do you have $2,700 to pay if you accidentally forgot your license? Or do you have the time to sort out the situation if your car was wrongfully impounded? Would you lose your job if you couldn't get to work one day because your car was impounded? You should not have to wonder about the answers to these questions.

These initiatives are unnecessary, have harmful unintended consequences, and tie the hands of police officers. A police officer could be held up for hours waiting for a tow truck to impound a vehicle, when her time should be spent protecting the community from real harm.

9to5 Colorado and many other community groups are collaborating to defeat these harmful initiatives; 9to5 will specifically be focusing on Lakewood.

In order to help the community at-large better understand these ballot initiatives, The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado will host a public forum in Lakewood. Please join us to learn more about the initiatives and to hear about how to get involved.

For more information, or to get involved in the fight against this ballot initiative, contact Erin at 303-628-0925 orerin@9to5.org

Watch Linda Meric on Channel 7 Denver!

Watch Linda discuss important changes in the state unemployment insurance laws:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/video/19940495/index.html

Legal Momentum Statement on Supreme Court Decision on Ricci

Decision Will Undermine Critical Role of Nation's Civil Rights Laws in Achieving Equality in the Workplace

WASHINGTON, D.C. and NEW YORK (June 29, 2009) -- Legal Momentum, the nation's oldest legal advocacy organization dedicated to advancing women's rights, is deeply concerned by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling today in Ricci v. DeStefano, a decision that will undermine the critical role of the country’s civil rights laws in the historic struggle of women and minorities to achieve equality in the workplace. The Court created a new, more stringent standard for employment discrimination claims in striking down the New Haven Fire Department’s attempt to ensure that its promotional exam did not discriminate against Black and Latino candidates. We believe that the standard articulated by the Court reflects a flawed interpretation of Title VII and is contrary to congressional intent.

Irasema Garza, President of Legal Momentum, stated: “Employment discrimination continues to be a major problem. To this day, women and minorities remain egregiously under-represented in many employment sectors. Astoundingly, the Court’s decision acknowledges this fact and yet requires employers to avoid policies and practices that would help to remedy this discrimination. This decision will make it far more difficult for women and minorities to get good jobs in fields that continue to exclude them, such as firefighting, and for employers to eliminate barriers that have proved discriminatory in their effect.”

Further, as a supporter of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, Legal Momentum strongly disagrees with those who might use the Court's decision to imply that Judge Sotomayor and her colleagues in the Second Circuit erred in their ruling below. The Second Circuit panel of which Judge Sotomayor was a part acted with appropriate restraint in applying the precedent as it existed at that time. The matter before the Supreme Court involved issues of first impression and the Second Circuit’s opinion was consistent with the views of four Justices on the Supreme Court as well as with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice.

Legal Momentum joined in an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in the Ricci case. The brief described how the disparate impact theory under Title VII has been instrumental in women’s entering “non-traditional” fields like firefighting.

Make sure your voice is heard. Take the health care fairness survey today.

President Obama has made health care reform a priority for his first year in office. We must act now to make sure LGBT and HIV issues are included in the agenda for national health care reform!

Lambda Legal is conducting a national survey to document the unique health care experiences and needs of LGBT people and people living with HIV. 9to5 has joined as a campaign partner. Information from this survey will be used to educate politicians and other decision-makers about the specific problems health care reform must address.

We want this survey to reflect the needs of the entire LGBT and HIV communities. Please complete the survey today at www.lambdalegal.org/healthsurvey and spread the word to your friends and family.

9to5 on Fox News!

Check out 9to5 Organizing Director Cindia Cameron on Fox and Friends talking about the importance of paid parental leave!

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=6278522&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/foxfriends/

9to5 Colorado Disappointed by Judge's Decision on Paid Sick Days

Last November, 70% of voters in Milwaukee voted "YES" to a binding referendum, which would guarantee paid sick days for every worker in the city. But today, Judge Thomas Cooper ruled that because of a single provision, the paid sick days ordinance cannot be implemented.

But Amy Stear, Wisconsin Director of 9to5, said the judge's ruling will not stop paid sick days from becoming the law of the land.

“While we are disappointed that Judge Cooper did not uphold the ordinance, we think higher courts will strike down the narrow grounds on which he based his ruling. We are deeply concerned about the 122,000 Milwaukeeans without paid sick days and their children. For them, justice delayed could have serious economic and health consequences. This delay is especially harmful given the current H1N1 pandemic, the potential that the flu will be even worse in the fall, and the continuing increase in instances of domestic violence.”

Stear pointed out that Judge Cooper agreed with almost all of the legal arguments made by the City and by attorneys for 9to5, which was granted intervenor status in the case. “Corporate lobbyists lost in the voting booth and tried to undermine democracy by blocking implementation of this ordinance,” she said. “Ultimately, they will not be able to stop the will of the people.”

What is the one provision Jude Cooper ruled unacceptable? He found that the ordinance exceeded the City’s police powers with regard to providing use of sick time for relocation and legal action for victims of domestic violence. What is most troubling about this decision is that he could have simply severed this one provision and upheld the ordinance without it. Though important, the ordinance stands on its own without that provision, and the will of the people would've been upheld.

Stear said 9to5 will appeal the decision. “We trust that the City will join us in the appeal, given that they have taken a strong position on the particular legal grounds Judge Cooper has ruled on here.”

The Paid Sick Days Ordinance in Milwaukee created a basic labor standard for workers and their families. Given these tough economic times, and the many public health challenges that face this nation, now is the time for paid sick days. We MUST fight to uphold the will of the people and do what is right for the citizens of Milwaukee, which, not coincidentally, has the highest number of documented cases of H1N1 swine flu in the country.

Click here to show your support for Milwaukee paid sick days by voting "NO" in the poll.

Governor Signs Unemployment Insurance Modernization

Opens Doors for $127.5 Million More in Federal Dollars

Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. signed into law bill SB 09-247, making modest changes in Colorado’s unemployment insurance law, and adopting new standards included in the Federal Stimulus Package that automatically qualify the state for more than $127.5 million in new federal incentive dollars. The new policy and the money are expected to bring much needed relief to the more than 2 million Coloradans currently unemployed.

“Especially in these challenging economic times, the unemployment safety net should be available to all Colorado workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own,” said Linda Meric, Executive Director of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, and one of the leading advocates of the bill. “UI is an important foreclosure and bankruptcy avoidance tool, a tool to avoid pushing more Colorado families onto the welfare rolls, and an economic stimulus strategy to help families and our local economies as workers try to maintain some basic economic security while temporarily out of work. SB-247 will provide access to the unemploy-ment safety net for women and very low-wage workers who have previously been left out.”

Dawn Duvall, a Colorado mother of two who has been out of work since she was laid off on December 5th noted, “This bill will provide much needed extensions of benefits for people like me who are desperately seeking work and are finding the process much harder than it has ever been before.”

The bill makes the following changes in current law:

1. Allows for an Alternative Base Period (ABP) to assess eligibility for UI benefits.

Explanation: When workers lose jobs through no fault of their own and file unemploy-ment claims, all states use a base period, or “look-back” period, to determine eligibility and benefits. The ABP provides an option for some unemployed Coloradans, mostly very low-wage workers and recent entrants to the workforce, to shift the look back period to include more of their recent earnings when determining UI eligibility.

2. Allows UI for spouses of transferred/relocated employees.

Explanation: Under current law, Colorado workers who quit a job to follow a spouse in the military who is relocated are already eligible for unemployment benefits. SB 09-247 expands this provision to include any worker whose spouse is transferred or finds employment in a location where commuting is unreasonable, as required by the Federal guidelines to draw down the stimulus money.

3. Provides Additional UI Benefits for Workers in Retraining for Green Jobs, High Demand Occupations or More Stable Employment.
   

Explanation: SB 09-247 temporarily allows unemployed workers who are involved in approved training programs to receive an additional 50% of their regular weekly benefit amount for a period of up to 20 weeks.

SB 09-247 also includes language required to draw down federal funds to provide UI benefit extensions for unemployed Colorado workers who have exhausted their initial award of benefits and have still been unable to find work. These federal funds are in addition to the $127.5 million in stimulus money.

Learn about the new unemployment law that 9to5 Colorado helped pass! Learn how to advocate for yourself and others – how to file a successful unemployment claim, how to win an unemployment appeal.

Handling An Unemployment Insurance Case

Monday, June 29, 2009

8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

At Mile High United Way

2505 18^th Street, Denver

Free parking

For more information or to receive a registration form and agenda, please email Bridget@9to5.org.