In 2018, ERA co-sponsored and played a role in passing a package of anti-sexual harassment legislation, strengthening protections for working people across California, holding neglectful employers accountable, and making it easier for victims to get justice and healing.
In 2016, ERA settled a lawsuit on behalf of women employed by BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, who experienced a sexually hostile work environment and was discriminated against in promotion and job assignment decisions.
In 2015, ERA sued facilities management giant ABM Industries, Inc.,[2] on behalf of night-shift janitor Maria Bojorquez, who was sexually assaulted, harassed, and faced retaliation at work.
(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, A. Castrejon v. Tortilleria La Mejor) The ruling resulted in thousands of undocumented immigrant workers receiving legal protection against discrimination.
In 1989, ERA challenged the federal government's policy of setting employee salaries based upon earnings in previous jobs, a practice that institutionalized and perpetuated sex- and race-based wage discrimination (Bell v. Kemp).
Also in 1987, the organization's amicus brief contributed to a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a California law requiring employers of five or more people to provide up to 4 months of unpaid leave to women disabled by pregnancy or childbirth.
In 1981, the organization brought a class-action sex discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (Bernardi v. Yeutter), resulting in a consent decree with inclusive hiring goals and the creation of a $1.5 million affirmative action fund.
This landmark lawsuit extended existing legal precedent to include sexual harassment, resulting in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that employers are liable for injury inflicted by a supervisor.
In 2019, ERA launched an initiative to End Sexual Violence in Education, and the nation's first pro bono attorney network dedicated to providing free legal help to student survivors.
In the previous year, the organization joined forces with other national advocacy groups to sue the Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos over attempts to reverse Title IX protections.
The settlement resulted in monetary damages for clients, and the establishment of a model Title IX program specifically focused on curbing the type of sexual harassment common in research labs.
After filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights on their behalf, ERA negotiated a settlement resulting in a new on-campus field and monetary relief for the student athletes.
In 1993, ERA filed the country's first Title IX class complaint over a "hostile environment" with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights on behalf of students and faculty at UC Santa Cruz, who wanted to challenge the rampant sexual assault and harassment on their campus.