Jennifer Reisch

You want to get to know her because:

• Jennifer has dedicated her legal career to advocating for economic justice and the civil rights of students and workers from under-represented communities. She became the Legal Director of Equal Rights Advocates in September 2012, assuming responsibility for directing ERA’s efforts to seek equality and justice for women and girls in schools and workplaces across the country.
• Prior to joining ERA, Jennifer spent over a decade representing low-wage and immigrant workers in individual and class action suits challenging unlawful employment practices and other civil rights violations.
• She helped pass the strongest equal pay law in the nation, the California Fair Pay Act of 2015, and was part of the team representing Betty Dukes and other women in their history-making case against Wal-Mart.
• She has served as lead counsel in dozens of cases brought on behalf of women workers across occupations, including Aviles v.BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, Inc., 2:13-cv-00418 (E.D. Va.), a Title VII class action sex discrimination suit that resulted in a $4.6 million settlement and significant policy changes to prevent harassment, discrimination, and retaliation against women working in the highly male-dominated shipfitting
• Jennifer served on both the California Pay Equity Task Force and the DFEH Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. To support janitorial workers in their fight to end sexual violence and harassment, she co-founded the Ya Basta! Coalition and participated in the state DIR’s Advisory Committee on the Property Service Workers Protection Act.

Alumna of:

• Yale University cum laude& Phi Beta Kappa in 1996 and U.C. Berkeley Law in 2002.

Outside of work:

Jennifer lives in Oakland with her family and their cat (who thinks he’s a dog).