Justice at Work Inc

Overview

Mission

The organization's mission is to support workers in low paying jobs by providing legal needs to immigrant worker centers, the agency provides a mixture of employement and labor related legal support by training educating, referrals, and representation, in order to address issues in relation to wage theft, unsafe conditions, discrimination, harassment, and illegal retaliation.

What it reported doing in 2024

The organization serves its mission by supporting workers in low paying jobs by providing legal needs to immigrant worker centers. The agency provides a mixture of employment and labor related legal support by training, educating, referrals and representation, in order to address issues in relation to wage theft, unsafe conditions, discrimination, harassment and illegal retaliation. The agency partners directly with worker centers, community based nonprofits that support workers in lowpaying jobs and provide training and connections to professional services such as attorneys. The agency earns attorney fees for legal services provided to client. The agency also earns cocounsel attorney fees when cases are cocounseled with other private attorneys, the fees are split through a lodestar approach under a contingency fee agreement. The agency earns referral fees by recommending or sending clients to third party attorneys.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
274670409
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Headquarters
Boston, MA, USA
Phone
6176908169
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Employment N.E.C.

Official website

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.3%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 78.4%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -17.8%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.5%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.6% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.3% of revenue deployed · 78.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $695K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $102K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 annual filings from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • THOMAS L SMITH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $101,646 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.