Summer 2022 Newsletter

Equal Justice Works (EJW) Fellow Dave McKenna recently scored big for immigrant workers in Massachusetts, successfully advocating for Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) benefits to be granted to workers regardless of their immigration status. 

After being fired for needing to take sick time, "Rosa” came to a Chelsea Collaborative workers’ rights meeting. GBLS attorneys attend these meetings to provide legal guidance. The job Rosa had been fired from was a new job, so she did not yet have the right to sick time. In screening for other issues, GBLS discovered that Rosa had had a baby in 2021, but her employer never told her about Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML).

Rosa applied retroactively for PFML benefits but was denied for financial ineligibility. GBLS appealed and provided Rosa’s pay records. Rosa was denied on appeal due to her immigration status / ID Verification. GBLS appealed again and showed that MA law grants PFML benefits regardless of immigration status. As a result, the Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML) changed its policy, and it now allows ID verification with a foreign passport. Rosa was approved for eleven weeks of back benefits.

Dave, whose EJW fellowship is sponsored by Biogen and Finnegan, and other GBLS employment attorneys are currently working with DFML to expand outreach, simplify the appeals process, and improve agency notices to applicants. 

GBLS’ Welfare Law team has secured some much-needed support for low-income families with  childcare  needs. GBLS brought a lawsuit on behalf of Chanice Lee, a Massachusetts mother who lost her childcare subsidy from the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) because she couldn’t afford her parent fees. She lost the subsidy until she paid the money she owed. GBLS sued EEC on behalf of Ms. Lee and other families who lost their  EEC childcare subsidies because they couldn’t afford  EEC’s parent fees. GBLS argued that EEC did not  follow the law when it set the fees, and the fees were  unaffordable. The court agreed.

The court ruled that the EEC’s parent fees in the income eligible child care program were unlawful because they were never properly established. EEC cannot deny subsidies to families who fell behind in their parent fees between March 1, 2019 and February 4, 2021. Families who fall into that category can now get back on the waitlist. In addition, and importantly, the fees were revised to be more affordable, allowing more families to resume needed childcare in order to work, go to school, and more. The new scale eliminates fees completely for families living below the federal poverty line, and it results in fees that are overall $53 million lower per year for families in the program.

For more information in multiple languages, click here. 

Laticia Walker-Simpson, a tenacious housing and shelter attorney  with our Housing Unit, was recently promoted to Managing Attorney  of the Elder, Health, and Disability Unit (EHDU). We sat down with  Laticia to get her thoughts on her new role, the work of her new  unit, and what’s keeping her busy outside of the office.

GBLS: First of all, congratulations on this well-earned new role of  yours! How has the transition been for you? Has anything surprised  you? 

Laticia Walker-Simpson: So, I’ve been manager for about five  weeks now and the transition has been good. I‘ve received a lot of  support from my unit and from Danielle [Johnson, now Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Stability], who left a lot of great resources for me and continues to be a help. The biggest surprise is how much work grants require and how much the advocates I manage do in a day. Almost all of the advocates work in multiple areas and they juggle them with ease. 

GBLS: Tell us about your previous experience (at GBLS and elsewhere) and how those experiences have prepared you to lead the Elder, Health, and Disability Unit.

LWS: I first started at GBLS as an intern in the Family Law Unit in the divorce work group. I then volunteered with (now) Judge Alex Mitchell-Munevar [former GBLS housing attorney] at Rosie’s Place. After that, I came to GBLS through our partnership with HomeStart. From there, I became the EA Shelter Attorney at GBLS and was promoted to Senior Attorney. While working with the EA Shelter group, I supervised attorneys, paralegals, and interns. I also started the GBLS Book Club, helped create the Mentoring Program at GBLS, and was a part of the Racial Justice Committee. 

These experiences helped me foster leadership skills, learn how to manage and supervise people, and learn my own limits and when to ask for help. It also helped that, through the activities I am a part of, I was able and have been able to get to know the members of the Unit outside of being advocates for clients. 

GBLS: We affectionately refer to EHDU as working from “cradle to cane”, because the advocates’ specialties range from education and children’s issues, to elder housing and benefits, and some disability and other benefits work in-between. With such a broad spectrum of work, how do you set strategy for and manage the unit?

LWS: I talk to the unit. We do a lot of work in a lot of substantive areas but the advocates understand how the work fits together. The breadth of our work allows us to serve the whole client in one unit. For example, if an elder calls with an issue with getting SNAP, we may also realize that since they’ve been using money to cover food costs they’re in danger of getting evicted now or we realize that they also need help with MassHealth. All of which we can help with in the same unit. That’s really cool.  

GBLS: You came to EHDU from the Housing Unit, what lessons or practices are you bringing from that work into your new team?

LWS: I take a lot of lessons from my former manager, Zoe Cronin. Have my unit’s back with what they need, encourage everyone to bring their perspective and most authentic selves to everything, rest, and really like your work and your colleagues.

GBLS: Speaking of our authentic selves, we happen to know that you are a bit of a chocolate aficionado. Do you have a favorite kind of chocolate?

LWS: I love chocolate. Milk chocolate with hazelnuts or milk/dark chocolate salted caramel are my absolute favorites but I'll take anything chocolate. 

GBLS: Yum. And, we hear you have a new family member! Will you tell us all about your new puppy? 

LWS: Her name is Asha and she’s about three months old now. She’s currently in puppy school and loving getting to be around other dogs (the smaller the dog the more she loves them).

Thank you, Laticia! We’re excited for your success and can’t wait to see how you make your mark on the Elder, Health, & Disability Unit!

After six years of work, GBLS, La Colaborativa, and the Innes Resident Alliance tenant group are celebrating the creation of new affordable housing units at Innes Apartments in Chelsea. The deal creates almost 100 public housing units, which will be preserved for the next 99 years. The project will also create 40 middle-income units and 194 market rate units. 

The public-private partnership to redevelop the distressed public housing units at the Chelsea development into an inclusive mixed-income development with amenities and close to public transportation began in 2016, and GBLS has been an integral part of the redevelopment process. As Executive Director of the Chelsea Housing Authority Albert Ewing stated, “This milestone is a transformative event for our residents, the Chelsea Housing Authority, the City of Chelsea and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).”