Liz Watson is Senior Advisor to the Education and Employment Team at the National Women’s Law Center. In her work on the Education and Employment Team, Liz uses legislative advocacy, public education and litigation to promote full and fair opportunities for women and girls in employment and job training. She also works on cross-cutting projects at the Center that advance the interests of women and girls. Before coming to the Center, Liz was Executive Director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy where she led public policy initiatives focused on improving policies and programs that address the needs of low-income workers and marginalized girls and young women. Prior to that, she was legislative counsel for Workplace Flexibility 2010 at Georgetown Law, where much of her work focused on developing policy solutions to work-family conflict and its consequences for low-wage workers. She also practiced employment law at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Liz began her career as a Skadden Public Interest Law Fellow, working with low-wage workers and women receiving public benefits in New York City. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Susan Y. Illston of the Northern District of California. Liz is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Carleton College.
Liz Watson
Liz Watson is Senior Advisor to the Education and Employment Team at the National Women’s Law Center. In her work on the Education and Employment Team, Liz uses legislative advocacy, public education and litigation to promote full and fair opportunities f
Blog Post List
June 23, 2014
Cross-posted from NWLC's blog Earlier today, I caught up with Kay Thompson and Sasha Hammad during a break at the White House Summit on Working Families . Kay spoke at the Summit about what having a predicable full-time schedule and a say in the timing of her work hours has meant for her family. Sasha Hammad is director of the Retail Action Project, and is fighting to secure these same protections for all retail workers in New York City. Liz: Kay, you mentioned you work at Macy’s. Kay: Yes, I work at Macy’s in Herald’s Square in the domestics department. And I’m a proud member of Local 1-S of...
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May 22, 2014
By Amy Tannenbaum and Liz Watson , National Women's Law Center Cross-posted from NWLC's blog At Tuesday’s HELP Committee hearing on women’s economic security Senator Warren called attention to the extreme challenges workers in low-wage jobs with unstable and unpredictable schedules often face – including the challenge of getting their schedules at the last minute, having hours that vary dramatically from week to week or month to month, having little ability to alter the timing of their work hours without facing a penalty, and working too few hours to make ends meet. Senator Warren said: “[the...
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April 25, 2014
When policymakers discuss solutions to help nearly 20 million low-wage workers make ends meet, the focus is often on raising wages. Raising the minimum wage and tipped minimum wage would go a long way to help these workers, but ...
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December 12, 2013
We need paid leave and we need it now. Today we’re taking one giant step closer to that goal. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand are introducing the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (the FAMILY Act), a bill to provide up to 12 weeks of partial wage replacement to workers who need to take time out to care for themselves and their families. It’s really very simple. Americans who work hard and play by the rules should not have to risk a nose dive into poverty just to care for their loved ones. It’s unacceptable. Times have changed – it’s clear. Women are in the...
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November 27, 2013
By Elizabeth Johnston and Liz Watson , National Women's Law Center Cross-posted from NWLC's blog For Walmart workers, this year Black Friday starts on Black Thursday, the day also known as Thanksgiving. Being open on Thanksgiving is actually nothing new for Walmart. What is new is that Black Friday sales will start at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving this year, meaning many more workers must work through the holiday. In total, more than 1 million Walmart workers will be missing out on time with their families this Thanksgiving. Although Walmart’s CEO says workers are “excited” to do it because it is a...
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November 14, 2013
By Lara S. Kaufmann , Senior Counsel & Director of Education Policy for At-Risk Students at the National Women's Law Center Cross-posted from NWLC's blog Last week, the U.S. Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) with strong bipartisan support. If ENDA becomes law, employers across the nation will be barred from discriminating against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This is a major step forward for LGBT rights and shows just how far our country has come. But we can’t stop there. While the Senate...
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September 17, 2013
By Liz Watson, Senior Counsel, National Women's Law Center Read more on our blog. Because of a new rule out today from the Department of Labor, home care workers will no longer be left out of the basic wage and hour protections guaranteed by the FLSA. Today’s rule extends wage and hour protections to all direct care workers employed by home care agencies and other third parties This is excellent news, and it’s about time! The exclusion of home care workers from the FLSA is emblematic of all that is wrong with the way our society values (or doesn’t value) women’s work. This 90% female...
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September 4, 2013
By Fatima Goss Graves , Kate Gallagher Robbins , and Liz Watson Cross-Posted from NWLC's blog Each September the U.S. Census Bureau puts out information on the annual earnings of male and female workers. We’ll soon know the numbers for 2012, but we already know that in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, women working full time, year round were typically paid just 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts – a loss of $11,084 in 2011. For some women of color the numbers are especially shocking: African-American women working full time, year round are...
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June 18, 2013
By Cortelyou Kenney , National Women's Law Center Cross-posted from NWLC's blog Thirty-five years ago the Pregnancy Discrimination Act outlawed discrimination against pregnant workers. But still today, pregnant women across the country are being fired from their jobs, forced onto unpaid leave, or made to quit when they need temporary accommodations like staying off high ladders or refraining from heavy lifting. Many women can work throughout their pregnancies without any changes to their jobs. But for some pregnant workers – particularly those in low-wage and physically demanding jobs –...
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June 10, 2013
Too many managers today still bring a 1950s mindset to the 21st century workplace. In the 50s and early 60s, shows like Leave it to Beaver taught Americans that “a woman’s place is in the home and I guess as long she’s in the home she might as well be in the kitchen.” Seriously, that comes straight from the mouth of The Beav and Wally’s dad. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sam9wP_uMEA In fact, the ‘men bring home the bacon/women fry it up in the pan’ trope wasn’t even true in 1963 when the Equal Pay Act became law – 37% of women were in the labor force back then. (Coincidentally...
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May 14, 2013
By Liz Watson and Cortelyou Kenney , National Women's Law Center Cross-Posted from NWLC's blog Amanda Roller was a call center employee in Kansas. After Amanda became pregnant she started experiencing morning sickness. Amanda’s supervisor repeatedly refused her requests to go the bathroom and instead told her that she would get Amanda a larger trash can so that she could vomit at her desk. Amanda asked again, and her supervisor again denied her request, saying, “We don’t pay you to pee.” Amanda was then demoted and eventually fired. Unfortunately, Amanda is not alone. Across the country ,...
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February 28, 2013
Sheryl Sandberg is telling women to “lean in.” She's encouraging us to strive for bigger and better jobs. She's telling us to resist “leaving before we leave” in anticipation of having families. Through her “lean in circles,” women will have opportunities to share success stories about how leaning in to their careers, while also having families, worked for them. Here’s the problem: “Leaning in” any further is not an option for most low-wage working women, any more than choosing to leave their jobs is an option. They’re already leaning in , with all their might. In families with children in...
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February 5, 2013
On FMLA’s 20th birthday, America should celebrate this critical piece of legislation, which gave millions of workers the right to job-protected, unpaid leave. But we must also recognize how much farther we have to go in creating a workplace that takes into account the caregiving needs of the 21st century workforce. First, the celebration : Thanks to the FMLA, millions of workers have been able to take time off from work without risking their jobs to care for a new child, for their own illness, or to care for family members who were sick. Ninety-one percent of employers report that complying...
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January 15, 2013
By Emily Martin and Liz Watson , National Women’s Law Center Cross-posted from NWLC’s blog, Womenstake . Peggy Young was a UPS truck driver. When employees at her jobsite needed changes to their job duties because they had a disability, or an on-the-job injury, or even a D.U.I. conviction that prevented them from driving legally, UPS provided it. However, when she asked for light duty in order to avoid heavy lifting for a few months because she was pregnant, her employer refused and forced her onto unpaid leave for the duration of her pregnancy. Unfortunately, last week the Fourth Circuit...
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November 27, 2012
By Liz Watson and Valarie Hogan , National Women's Law Center Cross-posted from NWLC's blog, Womenstake . Photo Credit: Hasbro With Black Friday gone and Cyber Monday continuing to fuel sales, the holiday season is in full swing. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, or Festivus , department stores and online retailers are fighting hard to sell you things you don’t need. Unfortunately, while companies are careful to avoid insensitivity to cultural or religious differences at this time of year, they are less concerned about whether their games and marketing treat girls and boys fairly...
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September 19, 2012
By Emily Martin , Vice President and General Counsel, and Liz Watson , Senior Advisor, National Women's Law Center Heather got fired from Wal-mart for carrying a water bottle. Natasha was forced onto unpaid leave and then fired because her district manager at Rent-A-Center found out she needed help with occasional heavy lifting on the sales floor. Sarah* lost her job at a fast food restaurant for taking bathroom and water breaks. What do all of these women have in common ? They were all pregnant. All they needed were minor adjustments to continue safely working during pregnancy. They didn’t...
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September 5, 2012
This blog was cross-posted from Womenstake , the National Women's Law Center's blog. By Emily Martin , Vice President and General Counsel, and Liz Watson , Senior Advisor, National Women's Law Center Labor Day provided a moment to take stock of how women are doing in today’s economy. For many, it’s not a pretty picture. This might seem surprising given that during the recovery many of the occupations that have shown the most rapid growth are occupations where women hold the majority of jobs. Unfortunately, these occupations are also marked by low wages. In fact, low-wage jobs have grown...
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September 5, 2012
This blog was cross-posted from Womenstake , the National Women's Law Center's blog. In honor of Labor Day, here’s a snapshot of how working women are faring in today’s economy, by the numbers. Percentage of college graduates earning bachelor’s degrees who are women: 57 . Percentage of students earning master’s degrees who are women: 60. Years of college that a man must attend , on average, to earn approximately the same as a woman with a four-year degree: 2 . The typical number of cents paid to a full-time, year-round woman worker for every dollar paid to her male counterpart: 77 . The...
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July 18, 2012
This blog was cross-posted from Womenstake , the National Women's Law Center's blog. On Monday, the news broke that a pregnant woman is now leading a Fortune 500 company—an important and exciting milestone. Before being appointed CEO of Yahoo this week, Marissa Mayer disclosed her pregnancy to Yahoo’s Board. When she announced her pregnancy publicly on Monday, she praised the Board for its “evolved thinking” in hiring her anyway – that is, for not violating the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. I’m not so sure following the law is all that praiseworthy, but here’s what made me cringe as I read...
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