Mission
The Center for WorkLife Law is a national advocacy and research organization that advances gender and racial equity by strengthening legal rights for pregnant people and family caregivers. Our work seeks to ensure all people have the freedom to build and maintain economic security through employment and educational opportunities, without having to sacrifice their health or their loved ones’ care.
Model of Change
As an advocacy and research center affiliated with the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, WorkLife Law uses three strategies to advance its mission: 1) promoting structural policy change at the state and national levels through innovative research, thought leadership, and grassroots partnerships; 2) offering direct assistance to workers and students facing discrimination; and 3) providing technical support to litigators and public agencies to expand legal rights for pregnant, postpartum, and caregiving students and workers.
Brief History of WorkLife Law
The Center for WorkLife Law was Founded in 1998 by Joan C. Williams at American University in Washington, D.C. In 2005, the Center began operating as a research center of the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly, UC Hastings). Under Joan’s leadership, WorkLife Law pioneered the area of the law preventing discrimination against family caregivers and was a leader in the field for 25 years.
In 2024, Jessica Lee and Liz Morris were selected to lead WorkLife Law as Co-Directors after ten years of working as Pregnant Scholar Director and Deputy Director, respectively. That year, Joan founded the Equality Action Center, a new UC Law SF program, which now houses corporate DEI programming that used to be run out of WorkLife Law, such as Women’s Leadership Edge and Bias Interrupters.
As Co-Directors, Liz and Jessica continue leading the many projects they have managed and nurtured over the last ten years, which constitute WorkLife’s core areas of focus in its next chapter:
- Fighting for reproductive justice
- Preventing discrimination against family caregivers
- Promoting legal rights for pregnant and lactating workers
- Operating the nation’s only legal resource center for pregnant and parenting students; and
- Ensuring equitable access to benefits for workers
