Legal Advocacy Fund (LAF)

Each year AAUW-Morgan Hill donates to the Legal Advocacy Fund (LAF), an AAUW national fund that assists financially in court cases involving sex discrimination in higher education and the workplace. It is part of our local effort to make a difference nationally about issues that impact women’s lives from the time they enter kindergarten until they retire. In fact the issue of wage discrimination impacts women beyond the moment of retirement. Pensions are based on wages; depressed wages become depressed pensions.

Morgan Branch Support

 

For the budget year 2015-2016, our branch contributed $2,000 to this cause.That money comes from proceeds raised from our annual Wildflower Run and from members' personal donations.

December 2015 - Legal Advocacy News -Burhans v. Yale by Janet Wright

 

The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund began supporting the case of Burhans v. Yale this year. The plaintiff, Susan Burhans, was hired by Yale University in 1999 to work on communications and campus safety. She claims that over the course of ten years she tried repeatedly to notify Yale’s administration of potential Title IX violations resulting from the university’s sexual assault complaint procedure. She also assisted students who were victims of sexual assault to access justice. 

 

Burhans claims that the administration ignored her warnings and severely retaliated against her, finally terminating her position. Her complaint points out that in 2012, Yale entered into a “compliance agreement” with the U.S. Education’s Office for Civil Rights that con-firmed that many of the issues Burhans had raised regarding violations of Title IX were well founded.

The importance of this case, and the reason AAUW is supporting it, is that it continues to expand the protection of Title IX, not only to students, but to administrators attempting to protect students and ensure compliance with Title IX. Title IX is still generally associated with athletics, and this case illustrates its application in other areas.

The Legal Advocacy Fund works to challenge sex discrimination in all its forms in higher education and the workplace. It is supported by donations made to the AAUW Fund.

LAF Funding of Specific Cases

 

The most well-known of the legal cases partially funded through LAF resulted in the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 1964 Act placed a 180-day statue of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit dating from the initial discriminatory wage decision. The 2009 Act changed the date from the initial wage decision to the date of the most recent paycheck.

The length of time that even this one case took to wind through the court system, eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court, is an indication of the vast amount of money needed in many, if not most, cases involving sex discrimination. Lilly Ledbetter first filed, alleging pay discrimination by her employer, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, in 1998. Courts gave opposing opinions and finally, in 2007, the Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, ruled against her. That pushed the issue back to the Legislature and resulted in the 2009 amendment to the Civil Rights Act. Eleven years of legal fisticuffs means the expenditure of thousands upon thousands of dollars. 

AAUW staff assesses which cases are thought to have the most impact in the society and follows them through to resolution.

To pursue sex discrimination cases through lengthy court battles takes huge amounts of money. It is only through a combination of supporting organizations that victory is ever achieved. AAUW through LAF is one of those.

Learn More

 

To follow AAUW LAF, go to Legal Advocacy Fund on the AAUW California website. There you can find updates on current cases. Also you can read about the Gloria Weston Campus Outreach Fund. That fund attempts to create opportunities for education and discussion on the topics of equity, discrimination and tenure at California universities and colleges. Some 20 percent of all LAF cases originate in California.

 

LAF Cases - Click here for a list of sex discrimination cases supported by AAUW nationally.