Legal Momentum Speaks Out: Confronting Tech-Enabled Domestic Violence
Legal Momentum’s Deputy Legal Director and Senior Attorney Jennifer Becker was a featured guest on the July 30 episode of the WashingTECH podcast, highlighting the fast-growing issue of intimate partner violence being perpetrated through the use of “smart home” technology. Jennifer discussed how abusers perpetrate domestic violence via technology, what victims can do to get help, and the need for legislators around the country to address these issues. The WashingTECH podcast with host Joe Miller is the oldest, consistently updated, Washington, D.C.-based podcast focused on the top tech law and policy debates driving the tech and communications sectors. Listen to Jennifer’s full interview.
PowHerNY Features Legal Momentum Blog for Black Women’s Equal Pay Day
For Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, Carol Baldwin Moody, Legal Momentum’s President and CEO, guest posted on the PowHerNY blog with Legal Momentum’s policy recommendations for all women to achieve pay equity. August 7 is the date that marks the extra seven months a black woman has to work to equal the annual earnings of a white man. Carol’s post highlighted her personal experience and outlined the actions needed for all women to reach true pay equality with each other and with men. Legal Momentum recommends that employers and policy makers take these 5 steps:
- Provide workplace opportunities for women of color
- Evaluate and address unconscious bias
- Build more comprehensive, intersectional fair pay legislation
- Increase wages for women of color
- Shine the light on Black Women.
Read the full blog post: http://www.powherny.org/2018/08/05/black-womens-equal-pay-carol-baldwin-moody/
Legal Momentum Signs Amicus Brief Supporting Efforts to Fight Gender Discrimination in the Workplace
Legal Momentum signed on to an amicus curiae brief in the case of Moussouris v. Microsoft Corp., in which a female former employee of Microsoft sued the company for systematically discriminating in its practices for compensation, evaluation, and promotion against the female technology professionals it employs. More than 8,000 female employees sought to join Ms. Moussouris’s suit as a class, asserting similar claims of systemic gender discrimination. The request to join the suit as a class action was denied by the lower court in Washington State. Legal Momentum joined numerous organizations to challenge this decision in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The amicus brief argues that, in assessing a systemic pattern or practice of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the court should consider anecdotal evidence offered in support of the claims. Failure to do so will serve to undermine challenges to systemic gender discrimination. Legal Momentum’s amicus brief challenges the class certification standard because it hinders efforts to fight systemic gender discrimination in the workplace.
Free Webinar for Victim Advocates Now Available on Demand
Legal Momentum is offering its new webinar, Helping Sexual Assault Victims Navigate the Criminal Justice System, free of charge and on demand for sexual assault victim advocates. The webinar provides an overview and introduction to Legal Momentum’s new, free online training for victim advocates. Legal Momentum presented the webinar to nearly 200 OVW grantees, OVW grantee partners, and OVW sub-grantees on July 23.
On July 20, Legal Momentum launched its new, comprehensive online training designed to help victim advocates understand the criminal justice system and where they fit into it in order to help sexual assault victims. You can access the training, free of charge, at https://lm-vatraining.org. The 90-minute recorded webinar provides an overview of the new online training and how victim advocates can access the training. The webinar also gives a brief overview of the criminal justice system and identifies stages during which victim advocates can be particularly helpful in assisting a sexual assault victim navigating that system. It also explains how other processes, such as campus sexual assault proceedings, interact with the criminal justice process.
