Civil Rights & Employment
Fighting for fair play and fair pay.
We represent people from all walks of life who have been subjected to discrimination and unlawful bias in the workplace, who have been denied pay for all of the work they performed, and groups of individuals who have been denied access to places of public accommodation, housing, and/or equal access to credit because of unlawful bias and discriminatory practices.
Overview
We represent individuals from all walks of life and across all industries, including agriculture, entertainment, finance, healthcare services, manufacturing, retail, technology, transportation, and other white-collar, blue-collar, and pink-collar industries.
- Employees: We represent employees at all levels of employment – across all industries – who have been subjected to discrimination and unlawful bias in the workplace or who have been denied pay for all of the work they performed.
- Individuals: We also represent groups of individuals who have been denied access to places of public accommodation, housing, and/or equal access to credit because of unlawful bias and discriminatory practices.
On behalf of our clients, we pursue civil rights and employment class actions in federal courts across the nation, including the U.S. Supreme Court, that often involve cutting-edge issues related to the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII, Equal Pay Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, Fair Housing Act, as well as novel joint employer liability issues and procedural issues related to class certification and class arbitration.
Our focus includes, but is not limited to:
Discrimination
- Age
- Disabilities and reasonable accommodations
- Gender, pregnancy, and family responsibilities
- Race and national origin
- Sexual orientation and transgender status
Wage and Hour
- Donning and doffing
- Overtime
- Pre-shift and post-shift time
- Worker misclassifications
- Seasonal workers and H-2A visas
We have litigated some of the largest and most significant civil rights and employment matters in recent U.S. history, including:
- Keepseagle v. Vilsack (D.D.C.): A more than decade-long, nationwide class action on behalf of Native American farmers and ranchers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its systematic race-based discrimination and denial of access to low-interest rate government loans, resulting in a historic settlement of $760 million.
- Dukes v. Walmart (N.D. Cal.): A high-profile gender-based discrimination class action involving more than 1.6 million women that went up to the Supreme Court in 2011 and further defined class action law. The litigation continues and was profiled in the May 2019 issue of TIME, “Nearly Two Decades Ago, Women Across the Country Sued Walmart for Discrimination. They’re Not Done Fighting.”
We helped conceive ground-breaking innovations to help foster diversity, equity, and inclusion:
- The Inclusion Rider: A novel contractual hiring addendum made famous by Frances McDormand in her 2018 Best Actress acceptance speech. The addendum stipulates that an employer tackle implicit bias of minorities in its hiring process by interviewing or auditioning minorities for open employment opportunities so that the work place (and the products or services rendered), authentically reflect the world in which we actually live, while protecting creative sovereignty.
Impactful Leadership
Our civil rights and employment attorneys are legal visionaries and innovators. They have litigated landmark civil rights and employment disputes before the highest courts in the nation, and continue to actively shape civil rights and employment law in the United States.
- Joseph M. Sellers, co-chair of the practice has argued seminal civil rights and employment class actions before the Supreme Court and successfully litigated many class action cases through trial, He helped draft the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2009, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 – cornerstones of today’s civil rights and employment laws.
- Christine E. Webber, co-chair of the practice is the co-chair of National Employment Lawyers Association’s Class Action Committee, the nation’s leading employment rights law association. She is highly regarded for orchestrating large, data intensive class and collective actions.
- D. Michael Hancock is the former Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. During his 20 years there, he helped enforce a range of workplace protections, from minimum wage, overtime, child labor and the Family Medical Leave Act, to guest worker and other employment-based immigration programs.
Current Cases
Housing Choice Vouchers (“Section 8”) Mass Action
On October 8, 2024, Cohen Milstein, in alliance with Inner City Law Center and Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC represents Housing Rights Initiative (HRI) in what appears to be the largest housing discrimination action in California’s history against 203 real estate agents, brokerage firms and landlords for illegally discriminating against families with Housing Choice Vouchers […]
National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
On July 10, 2024, Cohen Milstein, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, on behalf of other interested parties as Amicus Curiae, submitted an amicus brief to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in support of appellees in National Association of Mutual […]
Aetna Gender-Affirming Facial Surgery Litigation
Gordon, et al. v. Aetna Life Insurance (D. Conn.): Cohen Milstein is partnering with Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), now known as Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), and Wardenski P.C. in a putative civil rights class action against Aetna Life Insurance Company on behalf of three transgender women, who were denied coverage for medically necessary gender-affirming facial reconstruction procedures.
Past Cases
Equal Rights Center v. Air Communities, L.P., et al.
Equal Rights Center v. Air Communities, L.P., et al. (D.C. Sup. Crt.): Cohen Milstein represented the Equal Rights Center (ERC) in a consumer protection lawsuit against AIR Communities, L.P., Rhode Island 15 LP, dba Latrobe Apartment Homes, and Vaughan Place, LLC, for their use of discriminatory policies and practices that create unlawful barriers for applicants in the District of Columbia using housing vouchers and applicants with stale eviction and criminal background histories. On July 1, 2024, ERC announced a cooperation agreement with AIR. As part of the settlement, AIR agreed to not deny applicants for having criminal records and evictions over a certain number of years, as well as using income-based housing subsidies, such as vouchers, to pay for rent.
In Re Tyson Foods, Inc. FLSA Litigation
In re Tyson Foods FLSA MDL (M.D. Ga.), Cohen Milstein was lead counsel in a collective action involving FLSA claims at over 40 Tyson chicken processing plants, which ultimately resolved the claims of 17,000 chicken processing workers who had been denied compensation for donning and doffing required safety and sanitary equipment.
Couy Griffin Jan. 6 Insurrection Litigation
Couy Griffin Jan. 6 Insurrection Litigation (1st Jud. Dist. Crt., Santa Fe Cnty., NM): Acting as trial counsel, Cohen Milstein, on behalf of CREW helped successfully prosecute this quo warranto lawsuit to remove Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin from office and disqualify him from holding any future public office pursuant 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and New Mexico statutes because of his participation in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol.
News & INSIGHTS
Today’s news, tomorrow’s change.
Rebecca Ojserkis Speaks on Discovery Issues in Arbitration
ABA 18th Annual Labor & Employment Law Conference
Christine Webber Speaks on “Intelligent” AI in Employment Law
ABA 18th Annual Labor & Employment Law Conference
Harini Srinivasan Speaks on Selecting & Working with Experts
ABA 18th Annual Labor & Employment Law Conference