Our Firm

Who We Are: The Fairness Center is a nonprofit, public interest law firm that provides free legal services to those hurt by public-sector union officials. Above all, we advocate for our clients’ goals both in the court of law and the court of public opinion. Our attorneys have the experience and knowledge to engage in complex civil litigation in federal and state courts.

 

Who We Serve: Our clients are public employees defending their constitutional rights, facing union retaliation, fighting unfair representation, or demanding accountability for corruption by union officials. We have represented teachers, firefighters, municipal employees, liquor store employees, public university professors, corrections officers, traffic agents, and dozens of others who have been hurt by public-sector union officials. We offer our free legal services in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, Colorado, and New Jersey as well as to federal government employees wherever they work or reside.

A map of the United States highlighting in blue the states the Fairness Center represents all public employees: Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Colorado.

Impact

Court of Law

We have served more than 200 clients whose litigation has benefited themselves and thousands of others. Our clients’ accomplishments include:

  • Won a judgment applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision to Pennsylvania law, after years of litigation

  • Forced Pennsylvania’s largest public-sector unions to change their contracts covering over 50,000 public employees to abandon limitations on when union members can leave the union

  • Ended illegal “ghost teaching”—letting teachers leave the classroom to work for the union while taxpayers still foot the bill for their salary and benefits—in school districts across Pennsylvania

  • Uncovered stolen union dues and demanded answers for why a Pennsylvania corrections officers’ union didn’t follow its own financial policies while tens of thousands of dollars were embezzled

  • Defended a Connecticut firefighters’ union’s right to separate from a state union, subsequently exposing what a court called “questionable” financial practices

  • Strengthened the rights of all Connecticut public employees who want to avoid being union members, after a teachers’ union discriminated against a nonmember teacher

  • Ended racial discrimination in a California teachers’ union, after the union prevented a member from running for a board seat because of the color of his skin

  • Required the IRS to inform 2,500 employees of their collective bargaining rights and correct a violation of an employee’s rights

Court of Public Opinion

Our clients’ cases have been featured more than 1,300 times in local, state, national, and international news. Here are headlines from some of our clients’ media wins:

“I have been asked as a union leader: why choose to hire the Fairness Center? The reply is quick: they are effective, responsive, and concentrate in this area of law. As firefighters we know that merit matters. This is a firm that is about the rule of law, fairness, and freedom. They have the ability to bring required resources and expertise to bear.”
– Frank Ricci, former president of New Haven’s International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 825

REQUEST FREE LEGAL HELP

Our firm has filed a wide variety of lawsuits on behalf of both union and non-union members. Our clients seek to push back on injuries caused by public-sector union officials.

ABOUT OUR CASES

Our attorneys have the experience and knowledge to engage in complex civil litigation. They can handle matters ranging from administrative charges and hearings to filing traditional and class-action lawsuits in federal and state courts.