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ADVICE, ACTION, RESULTS
David Blanchard and Angela Walker have served Ann Arbor’s employees and business community for over ten years.
Every client deserves to be heard.
David Blanchard and Angela Walker have worked together for over ten years to provide high quality and timely responses to the emerging legal needs for individuals and businesses in Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan.
Angela Walker provides advice and advocacy for employees facing discrimination at work, fighting a wrongful termination, or being denied compensation and benefits to which they are entitled.
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David Blanchard focuses on helping people get back to work, stay at work, fighting wage theft, and preventing retaliation and wrongful termination.
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Frances Hollander joined Blanchard & Walker in 2018 after working at the Michigan Court of Appeals. Frances received her B.A. in linguistics from the University of Michigan in 2013.
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Final approval of the $650,000 settlement package clears the way for the largest known class action settlement of its kind in Michigan – covering ten Hungry Howie’s franchise locations in Mid-Michigan. The Pizza Driver Lawsuits alleged a common complaint among drivers in the industry – that systematic under-reimbursement for mileage and vehicle expenses violates the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Michigan Minimum Wage laws. Even while consenting to the settlement, the pizza stores continue to deny liability and deny that they underpay drivers for their vehicle expenses.
The COVID-19 Outbreak is presenting many challenges for the Michigan workplace. Yet the law and circumstances are changing almost daily. We are regularly monitoring and updating workplace rights resources we have found helpful. Additional Blanchard & Walker Resource Pages and Factsheets provide more detailed discussion on specific COVID-19 topics:
Many Michigan workers are being asked to report to work, either because their employer has determined they support critical infrastructure, they are other essential employees, or otherwise reopened for business. These include health care workers, first responders, and other critical infrastructure businesses. But also grocery store workers, landscapers and construction workers in regional reopened businesses. For those who are out at work in public during the COVID-19 outbreak, effective workplace safety is a great concern. Discrimination or retaliation for raising workplace safety concerns is illegal. (more…)
Discrimination based on gender identity is not specifically prohibited under federal law at this time, but there are legislative efforts to pass federal laws to make it explicitly illegal. There is also some case law interpreting sex discrimination laws t
Read More »Black people have been more likely to lose their jobs during the pandemic than white people, but they also disproportionately work at essential jobs that require them to expose themselves to possible infection.
Read More »As more and more people come out, especially as trans and nonbinary, our rights in the workplace and the discrimination we face grows all the more prevalent.
–Noor Al-Sibai | Queer Journalist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World’s (IWW) Freelance Journalists Union
from National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE)
Transgender Employment Statistics