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MEDINA ORTHWEIN IN THE NEWS

LA Times: Black city workers accuse Long Beach of racial discrimination in lawsuit

“Black city employees have been meeting behind the scenes for years, literally years, and discussing this hostile work environment, pay discrimination [and] promotion discrimination among themselves, trying desperately to find a way to get ahead of this,” said Shauna Madison, one of the group’s attorneys. “Finally, this all has come to light.”

CBS: Kaiser Employees To Receive $11.5 Million In Class-Action, Race-Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement

“This needs to be the status quo. People need to start listening to their employees, particularly their Black employees and not think you can push this stuff under the rug any longer,” said Felicia Medina, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

SF Chronicle: Kaiser to pay $18.9 million to settle pay equity lawsuits

“As part of the settlements, Kaiser will retain an independent consultant to conduct a job and pay analysis review and use the data to create more opportunities and career development for Black and Latino employees. The company will also conduct annual pay analyses, addressing any disparities, for the next three years.”

SF Chronicle: Black S.F. employees file racial discrimination lawsuit against city

“San Francisco is not the promised land for Black employees. The city is the furthest thing away from being a meritocracy despite the progressive bubble San Franciscans pretend to live in” – Felicia Medina, founding partner

Mission Local: Black city employees file class-action suit against SF alleging discrimination

“This has gone on for far too long,” Medina said. “We supposedly live in a progressive city, but [the city] is so far from being a meritocracy and having equal employment opportunities.”

AC Transit settles lawsuit over pregnancy discrimination

The settlement includes much needed programmatic change. Founding Partner Felicia Medina notes that: “These changes would have been in place a long time ago if it was men who lactated.”

Refinery29: Black Trans Women Face Constant Sexual Violence in Prison. CJay Smith Is Fighting Back.

“‘The same things that are happening on the outside where women are being assaulted and not believed, those things are happening on the inside of prisons to people like CJay even more so but we just don’t hear about them,’ says Kevin Love Hubbard.”

SF Chronicle: Transgender women could avoid men’s prison under California bill headed to Newsom

The state Senate voted to give final legislative approval Monday to SB132 by Sen. Scott Wiener, which would allow transgender, intersex and gender nonbinary people to decide whether to be housed in a men’s or women’s prison.

SF Chronicle: Former ACT faculty member sues theater company for racial discrimination

“I want American Conservatory Theater to take full responsibility and accountability for how they specifically have treated black folks over the years,” said Stephen Buescher. “I want them to make a meaningful shift in what’s happening and get strategic outside help to make that place more authentically equitable for Black folks and people of color.”

NBC: Lawyers say transgender prisoner was set up after making #MeToo complaint

“Ms. Smith’s case demonstrates that the ‘Me Too’ movement and the protections it has provided to women needs to also find its way to the violence and state-initiated torment transgender people face behind CDCR’s prison walls,” the suit says, referring to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Truthout: California Law Is Step Forward But Fails to Guarantee Safety for Trans Prisoners

“We want people to understand that we are under no delusion that this bill will make prisons safe for anyone, including gender variant people. We just hope that this bill makes it possible for transgender, nonbinary and intersex people to survive prison with as much of their mental and bodily integrity intact as possible.”

Yale Law School: Kevin Love Hubbard Promoted to Partner at Medina Orthwein LLP

“Kevin has been instrumental in our success as a new and thriving civil rights law firm. He is a consummate professional, trial attorney, and legal writer who is willing to push the law with me and Jen Orthwein as far as we can take it, and then some,” said Felicia Medina.

The Appeal: Incarcerated Transgender Women's Lives Must Matter

“I am not alone in this struggle. I refuse to be silenced while correctional staff harm me and my community. Unfortunately, my resilience has come at a great cost. I hope that CDCR takes meaningful action to address its anti-LGBTQ culture so that no more transgender prisoners have to endure what I have survived.”

KQED: Theater Workers ‘#LiftTheCurtain’ on Racism After Lawsuit

It was a standing room-only crowd as supporters of Stephen Buescher, the plaintiff in a discrimination lawsuit against his former employer American Conservatory Theater (ACT), gathered Wednesday evening to discuss racism in the theater world.

New York Times: ‘A Pumping Conspiracy’: Why Workers Smuggled Breast Pumps Into Prison

Nikki McNaulty, who has accused the Bay Area bus operator AC Transit of employment discrimination in a lawsuit, said she had to pump in a conference room. After she complained, the company opened a lactation room in a dusty closet next to an area where employees took cigarette breaks. Her colleagues told her she had two options: “Drive engorged or dry out.”

SF Chronicle: Suit alleges AC Transit discriminated against pregnant driver

McNaulty hopes to change AC Transit’s policies through the suit so other pregnant women won’t face the difficulties she did, said Attorney Felicia Medina. “When it comes to changing policies, she’s seeking to change the company culture, which is anti-working mother,” Medina said.

ReWire: New Lawsuit Sheds Light on the Horrors Trans People Face in Prison

Candice Crowder, a 33-year-old Black trans woman, says prison staff beat her and placed her in solitary confinement, as well as in housing units closer to the prisoners who assaulted and abused her.