Klehr Harrison + HAP 20 Years Strong: Chuck Ercole's Story

In a case for the Homeless Advocacy Project, Chuck Ercole represented a mother of four who was living at the Red Shield Family Residence, an emergency shelter on North Broad Street. She had been working part time at Walmart and was fired on the basis of being a “no call, no show” employee when she was rushed to the hospital for the premature delivery of her son.  The client claimed to have left a voicemail on the company’s call in system, but Walmart disputed the claim, stating that she was a “no-call, no-show” for 3 days, and was thus terminated. Her initial claim for unemployment compensation was denied, so Chuck filed an appeal, and picked the client and her newborn up from Red Shield Shelter to take her to the unemployment compensation hearing. Walmart did not show up, but the UC Referee conducted a hearing to establish a basis for granting Chuck’s client unemployment compensation benefits. Chuck was successful in convincing the Referee to award his client (with newborn in hand!) unemployment compensation benefits. “It was a very satisfying representation because Walmart would not listen to our appeal for fairness and reasonableness,” said Chuck of his case.

About The Homeless Advocacy Project
The Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) collaborates with shelter providers, homeless advocates, community service providers, and the legal community to provide homeless clients with legal representation and to connect them with other social services. Each year, HAP holds over 100 legal clinics at 25 homeless shelters, transitional housing sites, overnight cafes, and soup kitchens in Philadelphia. Since HAP’s first legal clinic in December 1990, HAP’s 350 volunteers have helped more than 52,000 homeless people and have provided more than $86 million worth of free legal services to homeless clients. To learn more about HAP, please click here.