Frank Schroth in a Milton on-line blog “My Town Matters,” highlights the work of our JALSA Board member, Jeff Stone, facilitating dialogue between the Muslim American Civic and Cultural Association in Malden and Temple Hillel B’nai Torah in West Roxbury. Schroth noted the recent report on WBUR about this interfaith workshop working to promote understanding and knowledge through honest, open dialogue.
The WBUR report by Martha Berbinger, an NPR correspondent, indicated that the groups have begun a series of conversations about politics, stereotypes and the conflicts that have divided Muslims and Jews for centuries, working to reduce conflict during a period marked by tension from terrorist activities.
Read or listen to the program from WBUR and comments which were posted after the program.
After years of dedicated grassroots organizing, the CORI Coalition will see results from years of hard labor as the legislation is implemented. JALSA was a part of a broad coalition of civic, religious, union, and community groups working with Governor Patrick and his administration officials to address obstacles which blocked many people from obtaining work. While the CORI system was supposed to provide information about people convicted of violent crime to agencies specifically working with children and seniors, it had expanded to include persons arrested, but not convicted, of non-violent crimes, as well as violent ones, and huge obstacles stood in the way of anyone trying to correct an inaccurate record.
Starting November 4th, “Ban the Box” statewide is now in effect (Link) , making Massachusetts only the second state in the country to remove the criminal history question from initial job applications for all public and private employers. Enforcement will be by the Massachusetts Office Against Discrimination (MCAD). The Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS), formerly the Criminal History Systems Board is also a source of information.
The law makes major changes to the way employers and others obtain access to Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) and provides important protections to individuals with criminal records. Some parts of the law, such as the provision that prevents certain employers from asking whether an applicant has been convicted of a criminal offense on an initial written employment application, became effective on November 4, 2010. Other parts of the law, such as the provisions that reduce the waiting periods for sealing records, will become effective on May 4, 2012.
The Amicus Group – a collaboration of civil rights groups and members of the employment bar – have again identified a case coming before the SJC as having potential major significance for civil rights enforcement in Massachusetts. JALSA led the way in bringing the issues of Joule v. Simmons to the attention of area civil rights groups. Some twenty organizations – including groups focusing on race, gender, sexual orientation, low income representation, and disabilities — have now submitted an amicus brief in the case now pending in the Supreme Judicial Court.
The case presents the question whether a standard form “employment agreement” including an arbitration clause effectively waived the employee’s rights under G.L.c. 151B, the Commonwealth’s most comprehensive statutory effort to eliminate workplace discrimination. JALSA and the other amici argue that there was no effective waiver in this case, and that, as a matter of public policy and contract law, no employer may, by way of a unilateral contract of adhesion, exempt itself from the administrative enforcement scheme established in G.L.c. 151B. Many thanks to Anne Josephson and Heidi Alexander of Kotin, Crabtree and Strong for preparing this brief. (List of organizations signing this brief)
The Office of the Attorney General and the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association filed separate amicus briefs in support of this position. An amicus brief supporting the validity of such waivers was filed by the New England Legal Foundation and Associated Industries of Massachusetts.
Boston’s first-ever Director of Food Policy met with JALSA’s Environmental Justice Task Force to talk about her vision and goals for the office.
Edith Murnane, center, at October 29 JALSA meeting.
See Environmental Justice Task Force
Thank you to all our members who worked hard to oppose the three ballot questions. We were successful in defeating the two most important issues, preserving the state affordable housing statute (NO on question Two), and opposing an irresponsible effort to wipe out a significant part of the state budget (an effort to cut the state sales tax in half – NO on question Three). Thank you for all your work on these issues.
