McKenzie Cantrell
My name is McKenzie Cantrell. I have been Kentucky Equal Justice Center’s Employment Law Attorney for eight years!
At KEJC, we believe public policy should make work pay, make it safe, and make it family friendly. I get to help make this vision a reality every day.
Wage theft is far too common. Each year, U.S. employers steal more than $15 billion from workers. Wage theft is especially prevalent in sectors that rely on the labor of people of color and immigrants.
We began helping Kentucky workers claim their wrongly unpaid wages in 2011, after multiple immigrant clients told us their stories and asked about their rights. Today, we offer monthly self-help wage claim clinics in Lexington and Louisville.
Ms. Joyce is one of the brave workers we’re accompanying through the wage claim process. She first came to us for assistance with health coverage. Ms. Joyce worked closely with Outreach Coordinator Miranda to enroll in Medicaid, making it possible for her to have a life-saving surgery.
Ms. Joyce reconnected with us this year at our wage claim clinic. She told Miranda and me that she had not been paid out for unused vacation time at the end of her employment with a food service provider.
I helped Ms. Joyce understand her rights. She was ready to challenge her employer and wanted our assistance to do it.
I helped Ms. Joyce craft a demand letter citing relevant Kentucky law. She added the details she had explained to me, signed the letter, and sent it to her employer. We’re waiting to hear back, prepared to take additional steps to help Ms. Joyce.
Your support matters. It helps us do this work. It’s important that workers like Ms. Joyce, have a partner to call on. Will you help me continue to lift up workers’ voices, assert their rights, and demand wrongly unpaid wages?
In partnership,
McKenzie Cantrell
Employment Law Attorney