Custodians who clean the Auraria campus in Denver have been discriminated against by being forced to speak, sign documents and receive safety instructions only in English, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found.
The commission’s findings, signed May 11, said the group found enough evidence to believe at least 14 janitors have been discriminated against “based on their national origin and limited English proficiency,” including one who was denied a promotion and another who was retaliated against for speaking about the discrimination.
The EEOC has invited Auraria officials and employees to mediation to address the situation. Court enforcement is possible if mediation fails.
Employees and union officials also want Auraria to provide translation for instructions on using certain cleaning chemicals. They say some employees who didn’t wear proper protective equipment have been injured.
“It actually just reinforces what we’ve known all along the law to be,” said Tim Markham, executive director of Colorado Wins, the union for the custodial employees. “It’s just an injustice to ask people to sign documents that deal with their schedule or that deal with a potential corrective action in their work and force them to sign things that they are telling you they can’t actually understand.
“This is a good reminder to all employers in the state,” Markham said.
In an e-mailed statement, Katy Brown, a spokeswoman for Auraria, denied the allegations.
“We do not have an English-only policy as you suggest; translations are allowed in the workplace. As a matter of practice, the Auraria Higher Education Center does not discriminate against its employees,” Brown stated. Auraria would not comment further, she said.
Custodian Teresa Cantu said she worked overtime Saturday — something she says has become typical as she isn’t allowed to protest unless she can explain her conflict in English.
When she got home that night, her 18-year-old daughter read and translated a letter that arrived in the mail that morning saying she had won her EEOC case against Auraria.
“I screamed with joy,” Cantu said in Spanish. “Si, se puede,” she chanted, which translates as, “Yes, it can be done.”
On Wednesday, she was still emotional talking about the claims, the most upsetting of which she says was being called a liar after falling at work in 2014.
Union officials say some of the Spanish-speaking janitors who had work accidents — often falls walking across campus pushing carts or trash bins — were told to sign forms waiving their rights to workers’ compensation or medical treatment.
Cantu had knee surgery and has struggled with depression but is now back at work.
She said: “They want you to explain to them what happened, but only in English, and you just can’t,” Cantu said.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or @yeseniarobles
