Workers in Denver, Colorado, may be uncertain of their rights. Because of this, they should consider contacting an attorney to determine what they should and should not pursue when they feel wronged by their employers. For instance, a group of Hispanic workers recently filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against their employer, arguing that their civil rights had been violated. One employee–a janitor–said that these civil rights violations led to an injury she received at work, something that could result in a workers’ compensation claim.
The workers say they have been discriminated against by the Auraria Higher Education Center, the campus where the University of Colorado Denver, the Community College of Denver and Metro State University of Denver are located. The workers say they have been discriminated against due to the employer’s failure to provide all documentation and conversations in both English and Spanish, the workers’ primary language. This, they say, has resulted in miscommunications surrounding scheduling, job status and safety. The employee that was injured said that she could not read a warning sign because it was only in English–she said that the lack of a warning in Spanish caused her to become injured.
An official with the company said that they expect their employees to either know or learn English through interactions with the public. The company noted that there is no Colorado law requiring that documents be provided in multiple languages, though there was no comment on whether any federal laws existed. The spokesperson for the campus organization said that the organization has no goals of providing all documents and conversations in both English and Spanish.
Regardless of whether the employees were discriminated against, the injured janitor should file a claim in order to receive compensation for her injury. If she can successfully make her case, the charges of discrimination may have some legal ground to stand on.
Source: WorkersCompensation.com, “Filing Your Workers’ Comp Claim with the EEOC” Robert Wilson, May. 10, 2013