MFY News Archive

Adult Home Residents Win Victory in “Headhunter” Case

In September 2006, MFY and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP filed suit in federal court on behalf of one former and three current elderly and mentally disabled adult home residents. The lawsuit alleged that they were exploited by Blossom Reyes, a ³headhunter² who receives fees for placing people in adult homes. The suit charged that in addition to pressuring people into inappropriate placements in exchange for money, Reyes and her associates also stole more than $40,000 from three of the resident plaintiffs. Three of the four plaintiffs reside at the New South Shore Manor Adult Home, which the suit charges actively participated in the scheme to steal residents’ funds.

MFY and Patterson settled this lawsuit for monetary damages and injunctive relief in October 2007. Each of the four plaintiffs received a significant amount of money, and the defendants have agreed to comply with extensive injunctive relief. New South Shore Home for Adults has agreed to stop paying placement fees to people who identify individuals for placement at the home. Blossom Reyes, Gabriel Reyes and Healthease Ltd. have agreed to forever cease operating or providing services of any type in New York State to people with any mental or psychiatric disabilities. The vast majority of the monetary settlement has been placed in a special needs trust for the plaintiffs so that they can use the monetary settlement to pay for expenses that are not covered by government benefits. The plaintiffs have expressed excitement about being able to purchase warm clothes, to buy formal clothes for religious events, and to travel. We are continuing to provide information to the Office of the New York State Attorney General in support of its investigation into whether criminal charges should be filed against Ms. Reyes.

MFY to Launch New Lower Manhattan Justice Project
MFY Legal Services, Inc. will expand services to low-income residents and workers in Lower Manhattan beginning in 2008, thanks to a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC). The new Lower Manhattan Justice Project will provide advice, counsel and representation to residents on housing, public benefits, consumer, access to health care, and other civil legal issues. The Project will also provide community-based legal education to residents and workers and will work with community-based organizations to address neighborhood needs. The project will also provide assistance to low-wage earners who work in the area, particularly to immigrants who . In addition to providing assistance to residents and workers, the Project will work to preserve the diversity of Lower Manhattan by helping to stabilize low-income areas, particularly the Lower East Side and Chinatown.

The project is funded by a grant from the Community Enhancement Fund of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Grants totaling $37 million were awarded to 33 non-profit organizations in November 2007.

MFY’s Awards Breakfast Honors Pro Bono Partners in Justice
MFY honored over 200 attorneys, paralegals and legal assistants who provided pro bono legal help to clients in 2006 at its 2007 Pro Bono Recognition and Awards Breakfast, held on Friday, April 27, 2007 at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York City.

MFY’s Champion of Justice Award was presented to Hon. Rosie Mendez, a member of the New York City Council, for her leadership in working to expand public support for free legal services to low-income New Yorkers.

MFY’s Matthew G. Leonard Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Achievement was presented to William C. Silverman, Pro Bono Coordinator at Greenberg Traurig LLP, for his efforts to help launch the Pro Bono Kinship Caregiver Law Project.

In addition, Pro Bono Partner in Justice Awards were presented to over 200 attorneys, paralegals and legal assistants who helped MFY¹s by serving as Guardians ad Litem in our Mental Health Law Project, who served as counsel or co-counsel for individual clients in our housing, kinship care, senior, and workplace justice units, who served on legal teams handling class action and impact litigation for our Adult Home Advocacy Project, and who conducted research and gathered data for MFY’s report on small claims court. Click here for MFY’s Partners in Justice Honor Roll.

MFY Announces New Three-Year Contract with Legal Services Staff Association

(January 30, 2006) MFY is proud to announce a settlement with the Legal Staff Services Association, National Association of Legal Services Workers, Local 2320 United Auto Workers, for a three-year contract commencing January 1, 2006. Upon signing the agreement, Lynn Kelly, Executive Director, stated that “This contract will help us keep the great staff we have now and recruit top-notch candidates in the future.” The main points of the agreement are as follows:

Health Care: MFY agreed to continue to provide high-quality coverage from Oxford Health Plans at no cost to employees despite increases in premiums that are expected to reach 15% in each of the following three years. The additional cost of health care premiums over the life of the contract is equivalent to a 3.5% increase in salary, on average. MFY’s settlement, therefore, bucks the current trend in which employees are paying a share of health care premiums.

Compensation: MFY agreed to retain the current “step” structure, which provides for salary increases on an employee’s yearly anniversary. Currently, attorneys receive an increase between 2.8% and 7.3% on their anniversary. In addition to these increases, MFY agreed to increases above the steps of 2.5% in 2006, 2.75% in 2007, and 3.25% in 2008.

Additionally, in the first year of the contract (2006), all employees will receive an additional $1,000 signing bonus, not added to the base, plus $500 toward an additional employer contribution to the 403( b) Pension Plan. In the second and third years of the contract, any difference between the amount budgeted for health care premiums and the amount actually paid will be distributed to employees in the form of an additional contribution to the 403(b) plan.

MFY agreed to continue to contribute 6% of each employee’s salary to a 403(b) plan. The contribution is made after an employee has been on the job for one year.

With the “step” increase and contractual increase, an attorney with one year experience in 2005 will net a 27.2% increase in salary by the end of 2008. An attorney who currently has three years’ experience will net a 28.2% increase, an attorney with six years’ experience will net a 19.1% increase, and an attorney with 10 years’ experience will net a 17.5% increase over the three-year contract. These figures do not include the $1,000 signing bonus or the percentage of salary paid to the 403(b) plan.

UAW Education Fund and Loan Forgiveness Program: MFY agreed to maintain its current level of contribution to these programs.

Annual Leave and Sick Leave: MFY agreed to retain its generous vacation and sick leave policy (28 vacation days and 18 sick days per year), along with its current policy on family and medical leave, which allows employees to take 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave while continuing to receive benefits. MFY’s policy of allowing employees to take up to 12 months of parenting leave was also continued. The policy on accrual of leaves was maintained, with employees able to accrue up to 40 vacation days and unlimited sick days.

MFY and the Union agreed that employees who were using “banked” annual leave or sick leave would not accrue additional leave while using their “banked” leave. “Banked leave” consist of days carried over from previous years and used after an employee has exhausted the 28 vacation days and 18 sick days earned each year.

Support Staff: MFY and the Union agreed to establish a new title of Administrative Assistant, eliminate certain titles no longer in use, and to drop language regarding specific staffing ratios. The result is that all support taff at MFY will earn at least $30,000 a year.

Training: MFY and the Union agreed to update the language on training, and to clarify the circumstances under which employees could receive compensatory time for participating in training.

MFY Launches New Consumer Law Project
With support from Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler LLP, MFY launched a new Consumer Law Project to combat financial abuse of seniors, the disabled, and other vulnerable people. Staff Attorney Karuna Patel is heading the project and within weeks had a full docket of cases on debt collection, identity theft, and other consumer issues.

The project is also working with students from Fordham University’s Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics to research immigrants’ access to financial services. The students will help identify barriers immigrants and refugees face in opening bank accounts and securing loans and will take a hard look at the practices and profits of remittance companies, which make superprofits on low-wage workers whose families depend on them to send home some money each month.

“Support from Patterson Belknap to start this project helps MFY to fill a huge, unmet need,” said MFY Executive Director Lynn Kelly. “Few programs help low-income New Yorkers deal with the abusive practices of credit card companies and other forms of financial exploitation. We hope to be able to expand this work in the coming years.” Click here for recent press release on rising senior debt.

MFY’s Suit against Grocery Lock-Ins Spurs New City Council Legislation
As part of MFY’s effort against supermarkets that lock in cleaning workers overnight, staff attorney Chaumtoli Huq drafted tough language for a new City Council bill that raises the stakes for stores that endanger workers’ lives. In September, the City Council voted to increase fines for stores that lock in workers overnight without access to a fire escape from $500 to $5,000 for the first offense, and a maximum of $20,000 for the fourth and subsequent offenses. The new law (Intro. 629-B) was signed by the Mayor in October and will take effect in January 2006. Violators may face prison terms of up to nine months and are subject to a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each individual working in a workplace at the time of the violation.

Last March, MFY filed suit against two Bronx supermarkets on behalf of three workers who were locked in overnight. Since then, the Occupational Health and Safety (OSHA) fined the stores for inadequate exits and other problems. Janitors not party to the lawsuit reported that media attention generated by the lawsuit caused some managers to show workers which door is unlocked overnight. Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP is serving as co-counsel on the case.

In March 2006, MFY scored a victory when the lawsuit survived a motion to dismiss and MFY acquired documents from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) on a Freedom of Information Act request showing violations placed on the building and photographs of those violations.

Intro. 269-B | NY Supreme Court Denial of Motion to Dismiss | More on Lawsuit against Janitor Lock-ins

24 Law Firms Honored for Helping Low-Income New Yorkers

Pfizer Inc’s Jean O’Hare Cited for Helping Foster Care Children Get Permanent
Adoptive Homes
Over 200 pro bono attorneys from 24 law firms were honored at MFY Legal Services’ 2005 Scales of Justice Awards on Thursday, October 6, at a breakfast ceremony hosted by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Jean O’Hare, Senior Corporate Counsel of Pfizer Inc, received the Matthew G. Leonard Award for Pro Bono Achievement, MFY’s highest honor.

Hon. Joseph M. Lauria, Administrative Judge of the New York City Family Court, presented the award to Ms. O’Hare for her leadership in developing the Pro Bono Adoption Project at MFY Legal Services. The Project matches volunteer 100 attorneys from eight large Manhattan Law firms with low-income foster care parents who are adopting children in their care.

Dozens of pro bono attorneys serve as Guaridans ad Litem for clients represented by MFY’s Mental Health Law Project and Adult Home Advocacy Project. Volunteer attorneys also work in MFY’s Workplace Justice Project, advising workers at bi-monthly Employment Law Clinics, litigating unpaid wage claim cases, and co-counseling with MFY on law reform cases. Other attorneys help low-income tenants facing eviction keep their affordable apartment as part of MFY’s Neighborhood Preservation Project and East Side SRO Law Project.

“Our pro bono attorneys enable MFY to serve more people and to initiate important impact litigation,” said Lynn M. Kelly, Executive Director. “They make a big difference in people’s lives, in the community and in the legal system.”

Scales of Justice 2005 Honorees

“Ask the Attorney” workshops will help seniors age in place
Beginning in Fall 2005, MFY Legal Services, Inc. will partner with Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) around the city to reach seniors with vital information that will help them to maximize their benefits, remain housed in their own homes, and maintain the highest level of independent living possible.

With support from the American Bar Association’s Partnership in Law and Aging Program, MFY attorneys will answer seniors’ questions on topics of concern, provide information on the most important legal issues facing seniors, including the new Medicare rules, and advise seniors on when it is important to seek legal help.

The project will also train social service staff members who work with seniors residing in NORCs on key legal issues facing seniors and how and when to make referrals to legal services providers.