On Tuesday, Oct. 13, the Detroit-based Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice, along with Resilience Force, filed a lawsuit against ServPro Industries, BTN Services LLC, and RACM LLC, the last of which owns multiple Michigan ServPro franchises. The suit was filed in Midland County Circuit Court … see full story at MLive
Employees Claim Adachi in Birmingham Is the Site of a Large COVID-19 Outbreak
As for the NLRB, the original case filed against Adachi was filed on Thursday, June 25. While its status is currently listed as open, Kraus shared documentation with Eater from the board’s regional director Terry Morgan stating that he has approved the withdrawal of the charge. Attorney Tony Paris told the Metro Times that he plans to file a second complaint with the NLRB claiming that Haug was taken off the schedule — effectively fired — for shooting video of the restaurant, discussing concerns with employees, and bringing those concerns to management. … see full story at Eater Detroit
Michigan unemployment system designed to slow payments working all too well
“MiDAS was programmed to assume people were guilty, and because of that programming, when it’s needed, people aren’t getting their benefits,” said Tony Paris, an attorney for the Sugar Law Center in Detroit that has sued Michigan over its unemployment system.
The state and its vendors have refused to disclose those algorithms, but court records and legislative testimony show that as recently as March 10, a claimant who made a mistake during filing could be accused of fraud for choosing from a multiple choice menu a seemingly innocuous explanation when seeking unemployment benefits: “I needed the money.” … see full story at Bridge Michigan
He took down Michigan’s unemployment system. Now, he’s struggling to fix it.
Also signing the letter was Tony Paris, an attorney with the Sugar Law Center in Detroit, which is representing claimants in a federal false fraud lawsuit against the state and technology vendors that designed the MiDAS system, including FAST Enterprises of Colorado, which has been paid more than $51 million by the state since 2011. … see full story at Bridge Detroit
Challenging EPA's Failure to Investigate Civil Rights Complaints
EPA’s delay allows these neighborhoods to continue to be harmed by the permits long after they were issued. Many of these facilities have already been built and are now on EPA’s “Significant Violators List” for their high levels of toxic pollutants. … see lawsuit at Earthjustice
Fighting for Full Funding for Michigan Cities & Schools
n 2016, Taxpayers for Michigan Constitutional Government filed suit against the State of Michigan for violating the Michigan Constitution and in October this year, the court granted judgment in our favor, finding that State Officials have been shortchanging local governments on required revenue sharing for decades. More info. on this important issue can be found here.
Detroit's First Private Community Benefits Agreement!
Sugar Law’s clients the West Grand Boulevard Collaborative (WGBC) negotiated and signed the first community benefits agreement in the City of Detroit reached between a private developer and a community group. Much congrats to all involved!
“WGBC also negotiated two Letters of Understanding with Henry Ford Health System around the new Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion and a separate warehouse. Thanks to those agreements, the hospital recently hosted a job fair in which 47 residents were hired, according to Jan Harrington-Davis, director of Employee/Labor Relations for HFHS” Full Story .
The Sugar Law Center is proud to work with WGBC, providing ongoing technical support and negotiations assistance to WGBC throughout the process of reaching this agreement and on their prior LOUs.
Community Benefits 3.0: A Path towards Racial and Economic Justice
On September 14, the Sugar Law Center, along with our co-sponsors at the People’s Platform, UAW, and SEIU will be hosting our third bi-annual community benefits conference.
Since 2014, Milwaukee, Nashville and other cities across the country have been winning affordable housing, childcare, and living wage jobs in exchange for the millions of dollars in public investments in their communities. Detroiter is the nation’s largest black city and Detroiters are long overdue for their fair share- now is the time to lean into the Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) Movement.
Learn how you and your neighbors can become advocates for fair and equitable development and real community benefits.
Sugar Law Combats Wage Theft
Anthony Paris, lead attorney at the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice in Detroit, agreed that low-wage workers, especially immigrants, are reluctant to rock the boat. …Lauren Rosen, one of Paris’s clients, did decide to rock the boat. She said in an interview with WhoWhatWhy that she volunteered to complain to management about stolen tips on behalf of herself and co-workers because “I’ve got no kids, no mortgage.” …Full story
Standing Up To Discrimination at Work
The Sugar Law Center fights for fair and decent work for all. Today, we filed suit representing “a fired black bartender for Kid Rock’s Made in America Restaurant … fired her for wearing “her hair natural” rather than straightening it or putting it up like her white co-workers.” Full story.