November 15, 2023

Community Legal Aid Receives Cy Pres Awards to help low-income workers in Hampden County

BY Amy Dion, Senior Supervising Attorney Community Legal Aid

Community Legal Aid, the non-profit civil legal aid program serving the low-income and elderly residents of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester Counties, is excited to announce that it recently received three cy pres awards. The awards, totaling over $220,000, will be directed toward Community Legal Aid’s Employment Unit. Consisting of five attorneys and two paralegals, the unit represents workers with claims related to wage or employment discrimination, Massachusetts’s Paid Family and Medical Leave, and the Family and Medical Leave Act, as well as workers with cases before the Division of Unemployment Assistance. The awards will allow Community Legal Aid to expand our team of attorneys and paralegals helping low-income workers with employment-related legal assistance.

Two of the awards were designated by the Law Office of Nicholas F. Ortiz, P.C. of Boston as a result of class action settlements of cases with ties to Hampden County. Said Attorney Ortiz, “As an attorney leading a firm of litigators and counselors who fight for workers’ and consumers’ rights, I know that it is not uncommon for low-wage workers in various industries to be subject to wage theft and other violations of their legal rights. I am pleased to be able to support the work of Community Legal Aid to vindicate the rights of low-income workers.”

Cy pres awards allow unclaimed settlement funds from class action lawsuits to be distributed to organizations that will benefit or pursue the interests of the class. According to the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee, “Class action residuals are an ideal way to advance the goal of ensuring equal access to justice and serve the interests that the class action was designed to address.”

About Community Legal Aid:

Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. Community Legal Aid works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health, and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.