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Client Stories

Worker wins DEO appeal hearing with coaching from JALA

After eight years of excellent job performance at a large insurance company, “Jean,” not her real name, had to take six weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) due to a serious medical condition. While she was off from work, her husband walked out on her and their two teenaged girls, which sent Jean into a deep depression that required her to seek counseling. While she was in treatment for depression, she needed more time off, so she requested and received approval for intermittent FMLA leave that started in June 2022. While struggling to get her personal life back on track, Jean was experiencing significant upheaval at work, as the company was engaging in major job restructuring. Her job duties expanded threefold within six months, and she was assigned several different managers during this time. By 2023, she was still taking intermittent FMLA leave for her depression, and her work began to suffer. As a result, she received written warnings and job coaching, which had never happened to her before. After increasing her focus on her job performance, she was shocked when the company terminated her effective Jan. 10, 2024.

2024-04-17T11:16:34-04:00April 17th, 2024|Client Stories, Family Law|

JALA attorney helps local senior settle dispute over defective HVAC unit

“Dorothy,” 84, had a new heating and air conditioning system installed in her Jacksonville home, where she lives alone. Because of improper installation, the unit did not work properly from day one. Dorothy, who had signed a finance agreement for the purchase of the unit, immediately notified the company that the unit was defective and asked them to fix it. Each time they scheduled an appointment with her to fix the unit, they did not show up. She did her best to dispute the charge with the company and with the lender involved in the finance agreement. The air conditioning company tried to push Dorothy into filing a warranty claim instead of fixing the problem.

2024-02-22T10:22:36-05:00February 22nd, 2024|Client Stories, Fair Housing|

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid working to save the home of local golf and civil rights legend Arthur Leroy Johnson

As a child in Jacksonville in the 1950s, Arthur Leroy Johnson would go get ice cream with his father and brothers at the Foremost Dairy in Riverside, the Jacksonville, Fla., neighborhood where he has lived for nearly 40 years and where he is struggling to hold onto his two-bedroom home with the help of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. “My father worked two blocks from where I live today,” said Johnson, whose father was employed at the dairy. “At 5 o’clock in that neighborhood, all the Black people had to be out. There was a whistle that would blow. If you worked in that area, as a Black person you had to be leaving. The whistle was called Big Jim.” In 1986, Johnson, who is now 80, became a homeowner in that very same neighborhood when he bought an 1,100 square-foot, aluminum-sided home from a woman who employed his mother as a domestic worker. Johnson, who will be inducted into the African American Golfers Hall of Fame in May and had a successful career as a concert promoter, eventually ran into financial difficulties when prostate cancer and other health problems sidelined him from his job as director of First Tee – North Florida, a program that integrates golf with a life skills curriculum to help youth build strength of character. He took out a reverse mortgage on the 1912 home, initially borrowing just $24,000. But living on $941 a month in Social Security, he was having trouble making needed repairs to his home. Unable to get insurance, he defaulted on his reverse mortgage. After fighting to hold onto his home for 12 years, he ended up owing a total of $140,000 to pay off the mortgage.

2024-06-04T11:19:40-04:00February 13th, 2024|Client Stories, Fair Housing, News, Uncategorized|

JALA saves Jacksonville couple’s home from foreclosure after job loss put them behind on loan

“Scott Stief,” 57, a local government employee, came to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid when he and his wife, “Emily” were about to lose their home to foreclosure. They had fallen behind on their home equity line of credit payments after Emily lost her nursing job of 25 years. Although Scott was working with the bank, the lender nonetheless started foreclosure proceedings. Scott and Emly were having difficulty determining the amount they needed for reinstatement of the loan because of the interest payments and type of loan, and they had been served with a foreclosure notice. JALA attorney Mike Pelkowski immediately began working to help the Stiefs avoid foreclosure, walking Scott through his court hearing. JALA housing counselor Joy Bryant-Baucom meanwhile corresponded with the bank’s lawyers regarding the reinstatement figures and helped the Stiefs obtain City of Jacksonville Foreclosure Intervention Program funds. With the right reinstatement information and the city funds, she was able to get a check sent to the bank in the amount needed to get the loan reinstated.

2024-01-04T11:05:55-05:00November 25th, 2023|Client Stories, Fair Housing|

JALA wins settlement for client subjected to Unfair Labor Practice

“Cleota Brown” had worked part-time for a local media outlet for more than 20 years when she was hired full-time to work as an administrative assistant in the human resources department. In that position, she and another employee sometimes covered each other’s duties when one or the other was out. During a casual conversation at work, the other employee mentioned that she received overtime pay when covering for Cleota. This came as a surprise to Cleota because she had been told by their supervisor that when one employee covered the duties of another, it had to be done during regular work hours. With encouragement from her colleague, Cleota raised the issue of disparate pay with her supervisor. Rather than acknowledging the unequal treatment, the supervisor accused Cleota of discussing “confidential pay information” and said this was a violation of the law and company policy. The supervisor then ordered Cleota to attend a meeting the next morning. At that meeting, Cleota tried to hand her supervisor a summary of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)’s guidance as to an Unfair Labor Practice. The supervisor refused to look at this handout and instead threatened Cleota with termination.

2024-01-04T11:08:24-05:00October 31st, 2023|Client Stories|

Veterans Legal Services Unit helps reservist navigate her divorce

Julie Barrett called Jacksonville Area Legal Aid for help with her divorce after hearing that it had a program that offered veterans free civil legal services. A former active duty servicemember, she had made the choice to stay home with her two pre-school-aged children and enter the Reserves so that her husband could continue his active-duty military career. “I followed him through several duty stations,” said Barrett, not her real name. “And my doing that for his career put me behind in mine.” Then, the marriage unraveled, and she found herself starting over. “My main priority was the children, ensuring my kids were still maintained. And thinking about the visitation,” said Barrett, adding that it was complicated by her ex-husband’s impending deployment. After what she called a “speedy turnaround,” Jacalyn Crecelius of JALA’s Veterans Legal Services Unit took Barrett’s case, aided by paralegal Aylmar Thompson.

2023-08-16T18:42:38-04:00August 16th, 2023|Client Stories, Family Law, Veterans Services|

JALA protects worker’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act

“Bobby Jones,” who has epilepsy, was working part-time as a warehouse sorter on an assembly line, when he had an epileptic seizure three weeks into his employment. The incident prompted him to disclose his disability to his supervisor, who acknowledged that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) statute required that Bobby be provided with a reasonable accommodation if needed. Bobby requested an accommodation for his disability, and his supervisor agreed that he could take a short break from his job duties once he felt that the work environment was triggering a seizure. No more than a month later, Bobby approached this same supervisor with a complaint that he did not get paid for work performed the previous week.

2024-01-04T11:19:17-05:00July 20th, 2023|Client Stories|

JALA helps senior settle dispute over improper charges

Thelma Vo, 67, came to JALA after unsuccessfully disputing charges for dental services she had not been provided. She had X-rays done and was told she would need several crowns. She did not have insurance, so she paid out of pocket. That same day, she signed an agreement with a bank to finance any future dental services she might require. Vo decided to get a second opinion from an endodontist and, based on this second opinion, then called the dentist office to cancel any further appointments. She called the dental office repeatedly for weeks, never receiving a return call. In the meantime, she continued to be charged by the bank, which was auto-debiting her account in the amount of $164/month. Vo finally reached out directly to the lender to cancel her contract. She was told they would need to receive a cancellation report from the dentist before they could close out her account. The lender received a cancellation report, but it was not completed correctly by the dentist, so they did not act on it. By this time, $640 had been debited from Vo’s account, all for services she did not receive. The dentist never sent a corrected cancellation report to the lender, and the dentist argued that Vo did owe fees for a provisional crown it had ordered from its own lab. During the initial consult, Vo did not have any impressions done and was not provided with any documents regarding the cost of any additional services.

2024-01-04T11:30:05-05:00May 31st, 2023|Client Stories, Family Law|

JALA helps family obtain accommodation for toddler’s medically necessary equipment

“Darla” was referred to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid through its Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership in early 2023. She lives in public housing with her mother, brother and 2-year-old daughter. In February 2022, and again in December 2022 she requested of the housing authority, who runs the apartment complex, a reasonable accommodation to move to a four-bedroom apartment because her daughter needs her own bedroom for her medical equipment. In December 2022, that reasonable accommodation request was denied without explanation. Darla’s toddler is substantially limited in her major life activities of speaking, balance, cognitive function, and mobility. She attends “physical, occupational and speech therapy multiple times a week.” She has orthotics to help with her stability. She also has a “stander” which is a large piece of equipment “to hold her in a standing position.” She must use this piece of equipment to improve bone density, improve circulation and improve mobility with the goal of one day being able to stand by herself. She also uses an adaptive bike to teach her trunk control and to help with her strength and coordination since she cannot move independently. She is getting an adaptive walker and a medical bed to aid in daily life functions due to her risk of falling and lack of mobility.

2023-05-22T10:26:19-04:00May 22nd, 2023|Children's Health, Client Stories, Fair Housing|

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