Shared Visions of Thought Leaders at Workplace Fairness Help Those in Need in the Workplace
Workplace Fairness is the #1 Most Comprehensive Online Resource for Information About Workplace Rights
WASHINGTON (Jan. 29, 2020) – Workplace Fairness, with the web’s leading source for information on legal rights in the workplace, is an organization that can help those who have been treated unfairly in the workplace. Workplace Fairness is a nonprofit organization that advocates for and promotes employee rights.
The Workplace Fairness website, workplacefairness.org, provides comprehensive information about job rights and employment issues nationally and in all 50 states. It is for workers, advocates, employers, policymakers, journalists and anyone else who wants to understand, protect and strengthen workers’ rights.
From its inception, Workplace Fairnessfounders had shared visions of how to help those in need in the workplace. Here is a look at the current staff and board members of Workplace Fairness.Staff
Executive Director
Edgar Ndjatou
Edgar Ndjatou has expertise in directing all aspects of programs for a national organization educating workers and their advocates and promoting worker-friendly public policy. He will be media lead for Workplace Fairness and will provide expert commentary to mainstream and digital media on a wide variety of workplace topics, including sexual harassment, workplace privacy and employment discrimination.
Ndjatou’s practiced employment law for nine years, five which he co-managed his own firm. As an employment lawyer, Ndjatou represented employees in the federal, nonprofit and private sectors, in all phases of administrative proceedings and lawsuits involving claims under federal, state and local employment laws. Ndjatou has degrees from American University Washington College of Law and Brandeis University. Aside from his Workplace Fairness duties, Ndjatou provides consulting services for individuals and organizations in human resources, personal career, and administrative/management as the Principal of Officium, LLC.
Administrative and Development Director
Carole Bernard
Carole Bernard is a seasoned nonprofit manager with more than 18 years of leadership experience in executive management, strategic communications, fund development, community and public relations, advocacy, membership recruitment and retention, volunteer management, board development and strategic planning. Since 2015, she has operated her own consulting business, Bernard Consulting & Associates, LLC where she has successfully helped small and large nonprofit organizations exceed their strategic goals. Most recently, Bernard served as the director of communications for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. and the executive director of the Scleroderma Foundation Greater Washington, DC Chapter. Prior to starting her business, Bernard served as the executive director of the Gateway Community Development Corporation and the director of communications for the Rosslyn Business Improvement District. She also has held senior management roles at the National Minority AIDS Council and Paralyzed Veterans of America. Bernard is originally from Boston, where her first job out of graduate school was a speechwriter for the Mayor of Boston. She has a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Framingham State College and a Master of Science degree in Journalism from Boston University.
Communications Coordinator
Jaimie-Esther Lebrun
Jaimie E. Lebrun is an Attorney with experience in the areas of employment and labor law. Jaimie graduated from Elon University in North Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and minor in Spanish. Following college, she worked abroad in Kenya as the Volunteer Coordinator at Kenya’s Children Home. After leaving Kenya, Lebrun moved to Kuwait and served as a Curriculum Coordinator and English Teacher for various schools in the region. Following her time in Kuwait, she attended American University Washington College of Law, graduating with a degree of Juris Doctor in 2017. While in law school, Lebrun began working with Workplace Fairness as a legal intern. Since then, she continues with the organization in managing communications for the organization, including website/social media content and updates.
Board of Directors
President
Wayne Outten
Outten & Golden LLP
New York, NY
Wayne N. Outten is one of the founders of Workplace Fairness, formerly known as the National Employee Rights Institute (NERI), and has remained involved in various capacities since 1994. Wayne has committed himself, through Workplace Fairness and many other organizations, to advocating for workers’ rights nationwide. Outten is founding and managing partner of Outten & Golden LLP. His practice focuses exclusively on representing employees. He co-chairs the firm’s Executives and Professionals Practice Group. His practice focuses on representing senior employees and professionals in all aspects of employment, including negotiation of employment, compensation, severance, expatriate, and secondment agreements. His notable recoveries include $12 million in a discrimination/retaliation case, $18.9 million in a breach-of-contract case, and $72.0 million in a compensation case.
Outten’s recognitions include “Best Lawyers in America”; Top 100 New York Metro Super Lawyers; Best Lawyer's "Lawyer of the Year 2010" for Labor and Employment Law - NYC and "Lawyer of the Year 2012" for Litigation - Labor and Employment in NYC; Lawdragon's 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2006); Lawdragon's 500 Leading Plaintiff Lawyers in America (2007); and Lawdragon "legend" (2015).
Outten is also a founding member and/or leader in many organizations, including National Employment Lawyers Association and its New York affiliate, the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section (Chair, 2015-2016). He has lectured and written extensively on negotiation, mediation and arbitration of employment disputes and on employment and severance agreements. More at http://www.outtengolden.com/lawyer-attorney/wayne-n-outten.
Vice President
Darnley D. Stewart
Outten & Golden, LLP
New York, NY
Darnley D. Stewart has served as Vice President for Workplace Fairness since 2013. She is a partner at Outten & Golden LLP in New York, Co-chair of the Discrimination & Retaliation Practice Group, and Co-chair of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer (LGBTQ) Workplace Rights Practice Group. Stewart is admitted to practice in New York and is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Employment Lawyers Association (“NELA”) and its New York affiliate (“NELA/NY”). More at http://www.outtengolden.com/lawyer-attorney/darnley-d-stewart.
Vice President
Frederick Gittes
Gittes Law Group
Columbus, OH
Frederick M. Gittes is Vice President of the Board of Workplace Fairness and has been with the organization for 16 years, lending his expertise in both employment law topics and board leadership. He is former president of the National Employment Lawyers Association and the Ohio Association for Justice. He was appointed Chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the Ohio State Bar Association for five years and elected Chairperson of the OSBA's Labor and Employment Law Section. He has been selected by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America for over twenty years, in areas of practice including Employment Law, First Amendment Law and Communications Law. Gittes has been honored in Ohio Super Lawyers for over a decade, including selections as one of the top 100 lawyers in Ohio and top 50 in Columbus. More at http://www.gitteslaw.com/frederick-gittes.
Secretary
Walt Auvil
Rusen & Auvil, PLLC
Parkersburg, WV
Walt Auvil is another long-time member of the board and supporter of Workplace Fairness. He is the current Managing Attorney of The Employment Law Center, PLLC, since 1989. His practice is focused on representation of employees in employment-related litigation. He was Law Clerk at the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1981 to 1983. Publications include Employment at Will, A State-by-State Survey. Mr. Auvil is also Chair of the West Virginia State Bar Employment Law Committee of the West Virginia State Bar. More at https://www.linkedin.com/in/waltauvil.
Treasurer
Shireen Mitchell
Digital Sisters, Inc. and Stop Online Violence Against Women
Washington, DC
Shireen Mitchell offers Workplace Fairness her expertise as a non-profit board member, as well as in digital communications and social media. She is an award-winning technological woman of color, founder, author, speaker, social entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, advocate, diversity analyst, and a political, digital & social strategist. Mitchell is a native New Yorker who spent time playing video games, and designing BBS boards and gopher sites before the Web went worldwide. She has served as a nonprofit board member for over a decade. She is currently on the boards of Workplace Fairness, Center for Partnership Studies, and the Chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations. More at https://about.me/digitalsista.
Board Member
Heidi M. Allison
Allison & Taylor Reference Checking Inc.
Rochester, MI
Heidi Allison currently serves as a board member for Workplace Fairness, lending her expertise in communications, public relations and media relations. One of her passions is assisting job seekers with ground-breaking advice and discussions about career advancement. More at https://www.allisontaylor.com/ and https://www.allisontaylor.com/blog/alexandra-allison-bio/
Fran L. Rudich
Klafter Olsen & Lesser LLP Rye
Brook, NY
Fran Rudich serves on the board for Workplace Fairness, lending her unique expertise in employment law, particularly in the class action arena. She concentrates her practice in complex litigation and class action matters, with a particular emphasis in representing employees in all aspects of employment law, particularly sexual harassment, various issues of discrimination, and cases involving violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Fair Labor Standards Act, and state wage and hour statutes. Rudich has been the lead attorney in numerous multi-million-dollar employment discrimination jury verdicts against major national entities and corporations. More at http://klafterolsen.com/attorneys/fran-l-rudich/.
Douglas Scherer
Touro Law Center
Huntington, NY
Douglas Scherer has served on the board of Workplace Fairness since 1994. He is a member of the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center since 1983. He is a Professor of Law since 1984 and Founder and Director of the Legal Education Access Program (LEAP Program), the Law Center’s academic support and mentoring program for students of color since 1990. Scherer is also the Founder and Co-Chair of the Law Center’s Annual Employment Law Trial Practice Conference, conducted jointly with the National Employment Lawyers Association. More at https://www.tourolaw.edu/AboutTouroLaw/uploads/faculty_cv/Scherer_Douglas_2.pdf.
A visit to the site will give you more comprehensive information at https://www.workplacefairness.org/
Workplace Fairness publishes a weekly newsletter, Workplace Week, which covers news and commentary on critical issues affecting employees and their advocates. Find helpful and more comprehensive information at https://www.workplacefairness.org/
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About Workplace Fairness
Workplace Fairness is a nonprofit organization that provides information, education and assistance to individual workers and their advocates nationwide and promotes public policies that advance employee rights.
The organization’s mission is to educate workers and their advocates about workplace rights and options for resolving workplace problems and that policymakers, members of the business community and the public at large view the fair treatment of workers as both good business practice and sound public policy.
Private Interview Opportunities
Individual interviews with Workplace Fairness staff and members of the Board of Directors can be scheduled to discuss workplace issues for workers and employers.
Workplace Fairness works toward these goals by:
- Making comprehensive information about workers' rights—free of legal jargon—readily available to workers and to advocates and organizations that assist workers;
- Providing resources to support the work of legal services organizations, community-based organizations, law schools and private attorneys that provide free legal information and services to low-income workers;
- Presenting the employee perspective in publications, policy debates and public discussion.
A 2017 Webby Award Honoree, the award-winning Workplace Fairness website has newly updated information throughout the site, as part of the web's most comprehensive resource educating workers about their legal rights in the workplace.
Sign up for the Workplace Fairness weekly newsletter, Workplace Week, here.
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Media Contact
Edgar Ndjatou
Executive Director
(202) 540-0620
https://www.workplacefairness.org/
Workplace Fairness
c/o Outten & Golden, LLP
601 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 200W
Washington, DC 20001
240-203-9032
Workplace Fairness: It's Everyone's Job
https://www.workplacefairness.org/contact