LOS ANGELES PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL

1 L.A. PUB. INT. L.J. 107

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WAGE JUSTICE: WORKERS’ RIGHTS
AND COMMERCIAL DEBT COLLECTION*
Matthew Sirolly


          In 2007, my colleague, Melvin Yee, and I founded the Wage Justice Center, a Los Angeles based nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to low-income workers seeking to collect unpaid wages, including undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for traditional legal aid due to federal funding guidelines.

         The nonpayment or underpayment of wages is not a new concern for those who provide legal assistance to low-income communities. The caseload of early legal aid organizations consisted largely of wage claims for immigrant workers. According to a 1928 history of the New York Legal Aid Society, the first client served by the Society when it opened its doors in 1876 was most likely an immigrant worker seeking help with a wage claim.

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    Cofounder and Strategic Director of the Wage Justice Center, a Los Angeles based nonprofit law firm devoted to recovering unpaid wages for low-income workers in Southern California. He, and Wage Justice Center cofounder Melvin Yee, were awarded the 2007 Echoing Fellowship for this work. Sirolly receive a J.D. from USC Law School in 2005 and a B.A. from Grinnell College in 1998.