AOU Community Partnerships

Workers Rights

AOU has a long-standing relationship with the Chinese Progressive Association’s (CPA) Workers Center.  AOU provides legal advice and representation, while CPA’s Workers Center provides organizing support to workers engaged in direct action campaigns. Together we help workers to obtain unpaid wages and improve their working conditions. We have advocated for legislation to address the rights of low wage immigrant workers at the state’s unemployment insurance offices. We have worked together to protect the rights of laid off temporary workers to receive notice pay under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

Last year, AOU was awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellow to expand its immigrant workers rights advocacy in the Vietnamese community where many nail salon workers are misclassified as independent contractors. These workers are denied benefits ordinarily available to employees, such as unemployment insurance benefits, FICA/medicare tax contributions, workers compensation.  We are working with the Safe Nails Initiative of the Boston Health Commission, the Fair Labor Division of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General and the Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (Viet-AID) to educate employers and employees alike of their legal obligations and legal rights.

Asian Battered Woman Project

Nearly twenty years ago, AOU launched its Asian Battered Woman Project with the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund in response to a spate of murders of Asian women by their husbands or boyfriends. We work closely with the Asian Taskforce Against Domestic Violence (ATASK) by providing training to ATASK advocates, and legal representation to ATASK clients. In turn, ATASK provides shelter, safety counseling, and other support services to help AOU clients live violence free.