Just a few days ago, the city revealed their bad actors list, which “identifies local businesses that have repeatedly violated the City’s labor laws and/or failed to comply with required penalties.”
The bad actors list is part of the POWER Act, enacted unanimously by City Council and signed by the Mayor on May 27, 2025. Councilmember Brooks proposed the legislation after working with the PA Chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA-PA), Philly Black Worker Project, El Comité de Trabajadorxs de Restaurante, and other worker advocacy groups. The Act strengthens employer accountability under local worker protection laws and provides remedies for workers who face retaliation.
The Sheller Center for Social Justice, along with Community Legal Services (CLS), helped to draft the legislation in collaboration with a novel legislative drafting committee formed by NDWA-PA that included lawyers, organizers, worker leaders, and council staff. Students in the Social Justice Lawyering Clinic, Adam Karbeling (’24), Jackie McCann (‘’25), Alex Suarez (’25), Jackie , Carolina Hernandez (’25), Claire Hirschberg (‘25), and Drew Perkoski (’25), all worked on the legislation.
(Seth Lyons, Supervising Attorney, CLS, Rhiannon DiClemente, Staff Attorney, CLS, TLS ’16, Jennifer Lee, Sheller Center, Rocio Avila, Senior Counsel, NDWA, Alex Suarez, TLS ’25).
After this great victory, the next crucial step will be to ensure that the law is operationalized on the ground for workers. Beyond the bad actors list, the city has provided $80,000 in funding to community partners to engage in outreach and education to workers. These kinds of efforts by the city will be crucial to ensuring that workers know about their legal rights and how to seek to help when their rights are violated.