Steptoe Named Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year

For more information, contact Susan Peters, susan@newspros.com, (212) 645-4219

(Washington, DC)—Steptoe & Johnson LLP will be honored as the Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year by the DC Employment Justice Center at its annual luncheon on Thursday September 28th, for the work Steptoe attorneys did with the center in obtaining back pay for RFK Stadium workers. The EJC and Steptoe negotiated a settlement of over $550,000 in back pay for RFK stadium workers.  

 The dispute concerned whether RFK stadium workers were not being paid appropriate wages. Upon further investigation, the EJC found that workers were eligible for Service Contract Act wages, which they were not being paid.  Many stadium employees were being paid at minimum-wage levels, which in some instances, was more than $5.00 less per hour than they should have been receiving.

Steptoe attorneys Ron Cooper, Errol Patterson, and Elisabeth Morse assisted the EJC in meeting with the Sports & Entertainment Commission (SEC), the DC agent that entered into the various contracts for RFK Stadium.  SEC General Counsel met with the EJC and Steptoe attorneys to discuss the workers' claims and to learn more about the Service Contract Act requirements. The SEC then checked that the Department of Labor was also contacted, and confirmed that their contractors indeed were not in compliance with the Service Contract Act and were not paying their workers proper wages.

As a result, the workers began receiving pay at appropriate levels in September 2005, a $5.00 per hour increase for many.  he EJC and Steptoe attorneys kept working, however, to ensure workers received back pay for the many hours worked prior to September 2005, for which they had been underpaid. In May 2006, stadium workers finally began receiving the back pay they were due. The settlement benefited hundreds of security guards, parking attendants, and other RFK stadium workers.

“Steptoe decided to get involved because of the firm’s long-standing commitment to assist vulnerable populations and was proud to achieve this substantial financial result without litigation,” said Errol Patterson, counsel for Steptoe & Johnson LLP.