Advocating for workers’ rights
by Paul Fraumeni
When Sukhmani Virdi (JD 2020) was a student in the Employment Law program at the Faculty of Law’s Downtown Legal Services (DLS), she learned a lot. But there was one lesson that really struck home.
A DLS client disclosed to Virdi that she was a survivor of sexual violence. She had filed charges and participated in the legal proceedings against the accused. When he was found not guilty, the woman told Virdi she had felt the legal system had not supported her. She felt extremely let down.
“She came to us at DLS with an employment problem. I talked to her about how we wanted to pursue her employment matter. This was a case we dealt with for the whole three years I was at the clinic. I made sure we would check in whenever there was a step to be taken. At the end of all of this, she said, ‘You know, you actually listened to me. Even if we get nothing, you listened to me.’ That contrasted with her previous experience with the legal system. Now she felt that she’d had a say.”
Virdi graduated from the Faculty of Law in 2020 and is now an Associate at Caley Wray, which specializes in union-side labour law.
“DLS taught me how to be a good lawyer, but I also learned how to be a better person. I developed several social skills because of my time there, most importantly ensuring people feel heard. I’ve carried that lesson with me into legal practice and my daily life and it has made such an impact.”
That spirit of valuing the individuals who seek the counsel of DLS falls very much in line with what Jennifer Fehr feels is the overriding goal of employment law.
“This branch of law is about people's rights to a fair wage, to breaks, to vacation, to notice when an employer terminates their employment so that they have pay for a period of time so that they can look for another job. It means working with dignity, working without being harassed because of your race, because of your gender, because of your sexual orientation.”
Jennifer Fehr is supervising lawyer for the Employment Law Division, directing the engagement of clients who use DLS’s legal services and the U of T law students who work with the clients.
She says that their clients are a mix of U of T students or people who make a low income in non-unionized jobs in the community, such as cleaners, fast food workers, retail, restaurants, care workers, nannies and factory workers.
And 80 per cent of the clients seek out DLS’s help because they have been terminated by their employers. But a dismissal is often only the beginning of the issues these workers face.
“It's not uncommon that there are human rights related reasons, maybe with respect to their termination or maybe regarding how they were treated during the life of their employment. So it's the dismissal that gets them in the door. And then, they stay with us for all the other employment standards breaches.”
And as times change, new issues are added to the working world, like the rise of internships, the gig economy and privacy as it relates to workers’ rights.
“Privacy has become an increasingly big issue because employers are in a position where they can monitor more and they do. That tension has been something that's come up a lot more with the pandemic. One big issue, from a privacy perspective, is vaccinations. In what circumstances can an employer ask about your vaccination status and how can they go about doing that? And how do they record that information and keep it? Privacy has always been an issue, but because of the pandemic it came to the forefront.”
Advocating for workers’ rights in issues like these is at the heart of what attracts many students to the program.
It was certainly the motivation for Rita De Fazio (JD 2019), who practiced two years with the Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario (IAVGO) and is now an associate at Gibson & Barnes LLP, a union-side labour law firm.
Her interest in the law started when she took part in a mock trial in high school. During her undergraduate studies at York University, she became more acquainted with labour law. She volunteered to do research for York professor Kelly Pike on the working conditions in factories in Lesotho, a small nation in southern Africa.
“That pushed me toward studying law. I wanted to do something that would make a difference in the lives of individuals and I saw labour and employment as one of those areas where you can make a change and help people.”
And she says she received an excellent grounding in this kind of law through her work in DLS.
“I had carriage of my own files. There were some human rights cases, some wrongful dismissal cases, others dealing with violations of the employment standards act. I would meet with the clients, prepare for different kinds of oral settings, prepare arguments and get the client ready. Jen directed everything but it was a good taste of what it would be like to be a lawyer.”
And that experience showed her how important work is to people, beyond just getting paid.
“Work is just so integral to their sense of identity. To lose that or to have it disrupted or to experience harassment or discrimination in the workplace is traumatizing. DLS taught me to put the focus on the person and what’s best for them. DLS really emphasized that and it’s something I’ve taken into my work now. That’s the value of clinic work, especially at that stage in legal education.”
Advocacy was also the motivation for Emily Sheppard, who is in her fourth year of a combined JD and Masters of Social Work program.
“My younger brother has physical and developmental challenges and mental health issues. I was inspired to go into law school and social work because I saw all the challenges he faced over the years with education and health care. I just wanted to do advocacy for people. That’s what drew me to the combined program I’m doing and to the DLS, because I could see I’d actually be able to help people who are having a really hard time, as opposed to doing something more abstract.”
Once she was in DLS, she was surprised at the level of responsibility she was given.
“I was actually going to the Ontario Labour Relations Board and making arguments and presenting submissions. Working with clients in that kind of way, right out the gate, showed how meaningful this work is to people. You’re not just telling a lawyer what you think the law is, you are actually having to meet with people and work through these issues with them.”
Fehr joined DLS in 2016 as a supervising lawyer after a number of years with the Ontario Pubic Services Employees Union. While her work with the union enabled her to be active in advocacy for workers, she was “over the moon” at landing her job at DLS – and that feeling continues for her today.
“Working with students is spectacular. They bring just such an energy to the work that we do. When I have meetings with them, the way they talk about their cases is just so impressive. They're on top of the facts. They're on top of the law. They're thinking about what next steps they need to take. They're really cognizant to the other needs that the client might have. You can watch their growth, which is amazing. And when clients email back and they say, ‘Thank you. I really enjoyed working with this student.’ That's really spectacular.”