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•Raymond
v. Rowland Settles for Nearly $12 Million RAYMOND V. ROWLAND SETTLES FOR NEARLY $12 MILLION Jennifer* is a disabled single mother of two young children. She had a stroke and has difficulty walking. She couldn’t work and needed to apply for state assistance. When Jennifer called the Department of Social Services (DSS), she was told that she needed to apply in person. A friend helped Jennifer navigate traveling by bus to the local DSS office, but when she arrived, she found that DSS had closed it. She had no transportation other than the bus system, which did not serve the nearest open DSS office. Jennifer contacted Connecticut Legal Services for help. CLS, in conjunction with Greater Hartford Legal Aid (GHLA) and the New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA), challenged DSS and won a nearly $12 million settlement for Connecticut residents who have disabilities. Approved by Federal District Court Judge Mark Kravitz, the settlement will help improve the physical facilities and technology systems of state welfare offices and update services to aid disabled, low-income individuals who need support from DSS cash, medical, and food benefit programs. CLS attorney Shirley Bergert, GHLA attorneys Lucy Potter and Greg Bass, and NHLAA attorney Joanne Gibau filed Raymond v. Rowland in 2003. The lawsuit argued that DSS violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act when it closed local DSS offices, requiring clients to travel miles to apply for social services programs without accommodating clients who have disabilities. Many disabled people were not able to travel to the remaining application sites and were precluded from applying for the services for which they were eligible. In accordance with the settlement, DSS has instituted policies to accommodate people with disabilities and provide them with equal access to obtaining and maintaining subsistence benefits. In addition, applicants who have disabilities can challenge any denial of benefits. DSS also began staff training and will hire more employees to help people who have disabilities access DSS systems and programs quickly and effectively. “DSS serves many low income individuals with learning disabilities and mental health or competency issues. They are dependent on DSS-administered benefits to meet basic needs. Many need assistance to navigate eligibility processes successfully,” says Bergert. “DSS has made important improvements to protect these vulnerable individuals.” *The client's name and identifying factual information were changed to preserve anonymity. CLS DAY LABORER WAGE CLINIC RECEIVES GRANT In December, the Fairfield County Community Foundation (FCCF) awarded the Connecticut Legal Services Day Laborer Wage Clinic (Wage Clinic) $30,000. The competitive grant, given during the FCCF fall 2007 cycle, will help CLS provide necessary assistance to immigrant day laborers whose employers illegally withhold their wages. The Wage Clinic, staffed by CLS staff and community volunteers, helps immigrant day laborers recover unpaid wages from employers who refuse to pay them for days, weeks, or even months of work. “The $30,000 grant from the FCCF will make it possible for us to hire additional staff to organize and maintain the twice-a-month clinics that provide an important service to the day laborer community,” says Steve Eppler-Epstein, the CLS executive director. “We welcome the foundation’s support for our efforts to enforce the employment rights of a vulnerable population.” The grant will fund new staff to assist in running pro se clinics that help immigrant day laborers such as Fernando. Fernando* immigrated to the United States from Ecuador and speaks little English. For the past three years, he has done roofing work for a large construction company. During most weeks, Fernando works at least 53 hours but earns only his regular hourly wage of $13 for the 13 hours of overtime. For three weeks in November 2007, however, Fernando received nothing. Fernando heard about the Wage Clinic from another day laborer CLS had helped. Fernando went to the clinic and explained that his employer owed him regular wages and had not paid him overtime for the past three years. Under the Connecticut Wage and Hour law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must pay employees the appropriate overtime rate—1.5 times the regular wage—for every hour more than 40 worked in a single week. Connecticut and federal law also require that employees receive the wages employers promised. After hearing Fernando’s story, the Wage Clinic advocate mailed a letter to Fernando’s employer, demanding all overtime wages for the past three years and all unpaid regular wages. The total was more than $5,000. Fernando’s employer did not respond. The Wage Clinic advocate
has filed a lawsuit that seeks the full payment of Fernando’s
wages and double damages, as allowed by federal law. Fernando and his
Wage Clinic advocate are currently awaiting trial but hope the employer
will do the right thing and pay Fernando for his work. STOPP PROJECT EXPANDS TO DANBURY The Robert G. and Marguerite M. Derx Foundation of New Fairfield has awarded Connecticut Legal Services $40,000 to expand the Stop the School to Prison Pipeline project (STOPP). “The Derx Foundation has given us the opportunity to expand this project into western Connecticut and increase our efforts to prevent children with disabilities from being dually punished with expulsion and court referrals,” says Astrid Lebron, director of development. The original STOPP project, funded in part by the Tow Foundation, is a collaborative effort of CLS and the New Haven Legal Assistance Association to assist New Haven and Waterbury students whose disabilities result in academic and legal problems. Through funding from the Derx Foundation, CLS will expand STOPP to assist students who have been or will be referred to Danbury Juvenile Court, such as Julia and children in similar situations. Julia, a sixth grader with disabilities, faced expulsion because of a journal entry discussing students and teachers she wanted to "kill." Julia had been keeping the journal on the advice of a teacher. In a health class, the teacher had told students that one productive way of working out their feelings and anger was putting them into writing. Julia had no history of bad behavior or discipline issues at school but had trouble with certain teachers and kids she felt picked on her. She expressed her feelings by writing them down, as the health teacher had advised. Her journal entry was discovered during a parent-teacher conference. Julia’s father was flipping through his daughter's notebook and came across the entry. One of the teachers in the conference, the one Julia was having the most difficulty with, noticed the pause and surprise on the father's face, snatched the notebook from the father's hand, read the entry, and called the police to have Julia arrested at school. The school, in addition to the arrest, sought to expel Julia. She and her family found their way to CLS the day before the scheduled expulsion hearing. The family’s CLS attorney was able to persuade the board of education to postpone the hearing to gather necessary school records. However, the school was closed during the postponement, so the attorney was unable to get any records or talk to teachers before the hearing. The attorney was able to meet with Julia’s family and have the Child Guidance Center complete a psychiatric evaluation critical to the case. At the hearing, Julia, Julia’s father, a therapist from the Child Guidance Center, and a family priest presented testimony. Julia was able to testify to the problems and challenges she had been facing in school and with her teachers. After listening to Julia and the other witnesses and reading the psychiatric evaluation, the hearing officer expelled Julia until the end of the quarter to "appease the school personnel." However, the hearing officer suspended the expulsion and ordered that the record of the expulsion be expunged when Julia completes middle school and enters to high school. She returned to school the day after the hearing. The principal of the middle school, who had been unaware that Julia
was experiencing such difficulty with certain teachers, immediately
transferred her to a new section (new teachers and classmates). Julia
is now thriving in school and no longer under threat of expulsion.
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