NYC Paralegals Need Raises Too, Lawyers Union Says

NEW YORK — The paralegals and social workers who help vulnerable New Yorkers need raises just as badly as the attorneys they support, the lawyers' labor union says.

The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys called on Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration Monday to fund higher salaries for legal support workers following the city's June pledge to raise pay for public defenders and civil legal-services providers.

Low pay forces many support staffers to work extra jobs jobs and fuels high turnover at the organizations that represent poor New Yorkers in criminal, housing, immigration and other cases, union President Jared Trujillo wrote in a letter to the Democratic mayor.

"These workers are dedicated to elevating the most marginalized people and providing them with the best possible representation," Trujillo wrote. "In order for them to stay in their positions or grow within their organizations, the City must provide legal service organizations with additional funding for these workers to get equitable salaries."

The city budget deal de Blasio struck in June included a commitment to getting pay for public defenders on par with attorneys in the city's Law Department. Legal-services lawyers have said their lower pay adds a financial burden to an already taxing job.

But the hundreds of support staffers who work alongside them — including investigators, administrators, social workers, paralegals and parent adocates — face similar struggles, Trujillo said. While pay varies by organization and experience, he said, these workers typically earn salaries of less than $50,000 and do not get regular raises.

"They’re really the lifeblood of so many organizations," Trujillo said in a phone interview. "They’re important in the sense that they elevate the work of the attorneys. Beyond elevating the attorneys’ work, they have clients of their own."

Two thirds of the legal staffers work second or third jobs to feed their families, pay off student loans and cover other costs of living, Trujillo's letter says. Some have even had to go on food stamps or enter temproary shelters while on the job, he wrote.

The low pay forces "countless workers (to) leave for better compensated jobs," according to Trujillo. Some 84 percent of them at the Legal Aid Society, the city's largest legal servies organization, are unsure they can afford to work there for the next five years, his letter says.

That turnover can be harmful to the vulnerable clients that legal workers serve in addition to supporting attorneys' work outside the courtroom, according to Trujillo. The lawyers union wants the city to increase their pay on a scale similar to the planned raises for attorneys, he said.

"Them staying has real value because they build real relationships with people," Trujillo said. "If you are a social worker representing a kid in foster care and you leave because you can’t afford to stay, that’s devastating for that kid in foster care."

De Blasio's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the union's letter. But City Hall has said it has increased the value of legal services groups' contracts with the city by more than $44 million.