Strategic Litigation
In partnership with law firms and advocacy organizations, we bring individual and class action lawsuits against employers who unlawfully discriminate against people with criminal records.
We don’t just seek financial relief. We push for systemic change. When our Policy Team helps pass strong laws, our litigation ensures those laws are enforced, especially for communities historically shut out of opportunity.
We use the courts to close the gap between what the law promises and what people actually experience.
Strategic Litigation
The New York Fair Chance Act
A key example of our model is the passage of the NY Fair Chance Act. After learning from clients that the existing anti-discriminatory law in New York (N.Y. Corrections Law Article 23-A) was failing to actually secure employment for our clients, Youth Represent’s Policy Team helped secure passage of the most progressive “Ban the Box'' protection in the country–The Fair Chance Act (N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107, “FCA”). The law was powerful in words, but without strong litigation to hold corporations accountable to the law itself, it was largely ignored by employers. Seeing this, Youth Represent built out our strategic litigation practice, and filed the first two FCA matters in New York (Millien, et al. v. The Madison Square Garden Co., et al., No. 1:17-cv-04000, (S.D.N.Y., Jul. 14, 2017); Kelly v. Brooklyn Events Ctr., LLC, et al., No. 1:17-cv-04600, (E.D.N.Y., Aug. 4, 2017)). Through the litigation on these cases, we not only secured millions of dollars in settlement funds for the community and changed the organizations hiring practices, but learned where corporations were trying to secure loopholes in the law’s designed protections. Armed with that knowledge, Youth Represent helped draft, review, and ultimately secure an update to the FCA that closed these loopholes in 2021.
The Fair Chance Act is one of the strongest “Ban the Box” laws in the country. It was shaped by what our clients told us: existing protections were not working in practice. After helping secure passage of the Fair Chance Act, we saw a familiar pattern. The law existed, but many employers ignored it.
So we acted.
Youth Represent filed the first Fair Chance Act lawsuits in New York. These cases sent a clear message: the law has teeth. Through this litigation, we secured millions of dollars in settlements and forced major employers to change their hiring practices. Along the way, we identified loopholes corporations were exploiting—and used that insight to help strengthen the law in 2021, closing those gaps for good.
To date, our strategic litigation has secured more than $8 million in settlement funds and protected the rights of over 24,000 people But our work goes beyond compensation.
Every case we bring forces institutional change, ensuring that discriminatory hiring practices stop not just for our clients, but for everyone who applies in the future. This work ensures lasting change.
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