Workers at Disability Rights Oregon (DRO) are urging the nonprofit law firm’s board to fire executive director Jake Cornett.
Low pay is the main frustration for employees—a resentment aggravated by their boss receiving big raises in recent years.
The nonprofit advocacy organization “cannot move forward in its current state, and [Cornett] seems to be uniquely part of that problem,” DRO staff attorney Chris Hamilton said.
“We’ve hit a breaking point where we can no longer hold the mission of the organization in tandem with the way that we’re treated as workers,” said Libby Teays, vice chair of the workers’ union and an advocate and investigator with DRO.
Administrative assistants at the nonprofit start near the Portland area minimum wage and top out at $36,100 after more than a decade, according to the Workers Union of Disability Rights Oregon (WUDRO). Advocates start at $36,050. Staff attorneys start at $55,000, with the highest base salary currently listed at $80,550 for those with 30 years of experience.
Between 2022—when the union secured its first contract—and 2024, most workers’ annual compensation rose less than $3,000, salary scales show. During the same period, Cornett’s pay rose more than $75,000, reaching over $200,000, tax filings show.
DRO holds government contracts to provide legal assistance to people with disabilities. Advocates and attorneys provide court-appointed legal representation for people facing involuntary commitment or guardianship, monitor social security payments made to caretakers to ensure the money benefits the intended recipient, provide education for parents on what services children with disabilities are entitled to in school, and help people access benefits.
“If we don’t get this contract, they’re going to lose the only people that they’ve managed to hang on to,” Teays said.
There’s been more than 75 percent turnover among DRO’s union-represented positions since April 2025. WUDRO represents 19 of roughly 35 employees at DRO.
Continued high turnover “is going to sink the organization, and we all understand that. We’ve watched institutional knowledge walk out the door—or get shoved out the door—and it’s really heartbreaking,” Teays said.
The union is seeking raises ranging from 25 to 72 percent, which would bring starting salaries up to $49,200 for admin assistants, $50,950 for advocates, and $68,950 for attorneys. DRO has offered raises between 15 and 37 percent.
On June 3, DRO union members unanimously recommended that DRO’s board remove Cornett from his position. Hamilton said the vote “led to the single most cordial and reasonable session we’ve had with them, but still no substantively meaningful movement” on economic issues. Management gave new salary offers that were somewhat closer to the union’s ask, but not close enough for WUDRO to call off a demonstration on June 17 outside the Multnomah County Courthouse.
In a statement provided to the Mercury, DRO Board President Emilie Wylde Turner defended Cornett.
“Disability Rights Oregon is lucky to have Jake Cornett leading this non-profit and he has our full support,” Wylde Turner said. “We’re going to continue to bargain in good faith until we get a contract that ensures organizational sustainability and keeps our services to Oregonians with disabilities strong.” DRO did not directly answer when asked about Cornett’s current compensation, but said executive compensation was set annually by the board, factoring in executive expertise, performance, budget, and other factors.
Back in January, union members voted to allow the bargaining team to call a strike if necessary. That same month, nine workers—six remaining anonymous—wrote letters to Cornett describing the hardship caused by low wages.
“We’re members of the disability community. We care about the mission,” WUDRO chair Travis Leatham said. “We didn’t want to air out our dirty laundry, but we decided that after almost a year, enough was enough.”
The strike authorization vote prompted management to start bringing their attorney to the bargaining table, which Hamilton said improved the tone of negotiations and the offers DRO made. But DRO still didn’t budge enough, union members said.
“When we try to reach out and be collaborative, they completely reject us. If we give an inch, they dig in. If we give a mile, they dig in. When we do a vote of no confidence against Jake, against him personally, then the ball starts to move,” Leatham said.
DRO workers unionized in September 2019 with the National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW), UAW Local 2320. The following month, seven of the 17 unionized workers received layoff notices, including the majority of the bargaining committee. The remaining workers struggled through negotiations with DRO management and eventually settled on a first contract in 2022.
Now, the union wants any pay raises negotiated in a new contract to be retroactive, since the last contract expired in April 2025, and to add additional steps on the pay scales so employees will continue getting annual raises even if they stay at DRO for decades.
Teays acknowledged that the union’s proposed raises would be a big jump, but said a drastic raise is needed after years of staff wages falling behind peers.
Workers said pay at DRO used to be near other providers like Legal Aid Services of Oregon (LASO), but has fallen behind under Cornett’s leadership. LASO attorney pay starts at $66,200 and workers there are currently negotiating a new contract. Attorneys at the two largest public defense firms in Multnomah County, which are also unionized, start above $77,000.