About Us

Our mission: To build a just and inclusive economy where all workers have expansive rights and thrive in good jobs.

Founded in 1969, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) is a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to building a just and inclusive economy where all workers have expansive rights and thrive in good jobs. Together with local, state, and national partners, NELP advances its mission through transformative legal and policy solutions, research, capacity-building, and communications.

NELP is the leading national nonprofit working at the federal, state, and local levels to create a good-jobs economy. As an ally to workers building their power, we strive for a society that recognizes, responds to, and supports workers’ right to flourish. By championing Black workers, immigrant workers, and other workers of color, we seek to “raise the floor” for these workers and others who have been excluded from the rights and benefits of their labor—in the pursuit of an economy in which their interests and power are prioritized in labor and public policy and across society. In a good-jobs economy, workers who’ve been left behind will get ahead and achieve sustainable, intergenerational prosperity.

We aim to make our vision of a good-jobs economy concrete through actionable research, policy design, advocacy, and helping transform the broader narrative about workers’ rights, inherent worth, and power. We support workers speaking out individually and collectively so that their concerns are heard and addressed through policy, laws, enforcement, and budgetary decisions that meet their needs. We believe all workers are entitled to dignity, respect, safety and wellness, access to good wages and benefits, and to gain a greater share of the wealth generated by their labor.

We are proud to have been serving the workers’ rights movement since 1969 and are excited to be a leading contributor in creating a good-jobs economy where all workers have power in the workplace and the resources to thrive in their lives.