About
ernesty gives you what you need to get what you're owed.
We help employees understand and use their workplace rights, especially when it comes to disability accommodations, discrimination, and retaliation.
Why ernesty Exists
Employers have entire HR departments, legal counsel, and institutional knowledge.
Employees have... Google and confusion.
ernesty levels the playing field.
Every one of these rights was fought for.
People bled, marched, testified, and died so that disabled workers would have the right to reasonable accommodations, protection from discrimination, and recourse when those rights are violated.
Those rights haven't gone anywhere. But they've been deprioritized, diluted, and buried under jargon, sometimes by design.
ernesty exists to make those rights usable again.
Our Philosophy
The social model of disability
ernesty is built on a simple idea: disability is not a personal failing. It's the result of environments, systems, and structures that weren't built to include everyone. The problem isn't you. It's the barrier.
Disability is a neutral fact
Everyone has limitations. A disability is simply a limitation that interacts with a barrier. The barrier is the problem, not you.
Stigma isn't yours to carry
Society created the stigma. You don't owe anyone an explanation, an apology, or a performance of gratitude for being treated fairly.
Access is based on need, not identity
You don't need a specific diagnosis to need support. If a barrier exists, you have the right to ask for it to be addressed.
Your rights are yours to take
These aren't favors. They're legal protections, fought for by people who came before you. Using them is not a burden on anyone.
What We Believe
The ideas behind everything we build
Knowledge is power. And the process is designed to keep you from having it.
The accommodation process is deliberately opaque. Employers benefit from confusion. ernesty exists to give you clarity: not just information, but understanding.
Fear and hate often look the same from the outside.
Most managers who deny accommodations aren't doing it out of malice. They're scared of liability, uncertain about the rules, or overwhelmed by process. That doesn't make it okay. But it changes how we respond.
Empathy is a tool, not a weakness.
We don't coach people to go to war with their employer. We help them communicate clearly, document everything, and protect themselves, while leaving room for the process to work.
The process isn't just yours. It's shared.
The interactive process is a two-way conversation. Employers have obligations too. ernesty helps you hold up your end and hold them to theirs.
We're fighting for everyone's rights. Not against anyone's.
ernesty is not anti-employer. We're pro-access. When accommodations work, everyone benefits: the employee, the team, and the organization.
Our Values
What guides us
Humility
We don't have all the answers. We're not lawyers, and we'll never pretend to be. We give you tools and information, not legal advice.
Justice
Not charity. Not pity. Justice. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly at work, and the law says so.
Accountability
We hold employers accountable by helping employees document everything. We hold ourselves accountable by being transparent about what we are and aren't.
Flexibility
Not every situation is the same. We build tools that adapt to your context, not one-size-fits-all templates.
Honesty
If the law doesn't protect you in a specific situation, we'll tell you. If your employer is likely in the right, we'll say that too. Trust requires truth.
The ernesty Way
Everyone has a capacity for something.
The name "ernesty" means serious, sincere, and determined. That's what we bring to this work: not anger, not desperation, but clarity and purpose.
We believe the accommodation process doesn't have to be adversarial. It can be clear, fair, and even productive, if both sides know what they're doing.
ernesty exists to make sure you do.
Founder
Julie Harris
Julie is the author of Boldly Belong. She spent years at Microsoft before becoming one of the most sought-after workplace accommodation experts in the country, speaking at over 50 Fortune 500 companies and helping thousands of employees navigate the accommodation process.
ernesty is the product of everything she learned, built to give every employee access to the same knowledge that used to be reserved for those who could afford an expert.
You already have the power.
ernesty makes it impossible to ignore.