Injured Hispanic Custodian Sues School After Not Being Able to Read English Warning Sign

Photo credit: CBS 

A group of Hispanic custodians at Denver's Auraria Campus are suing their employer, claiming they are victims of discrimination. One of those custodians, Bertha Ribota, claims she was injured on the job as a result of not being able read a warning sign in English, CBS reports.

“Too many things have happened to me there that I don’t even know how to explain it,” said  Ribota.

“If I could speak English I wouldn’t have the problems that exist.”

CBS explains further:

The complaint accuses the campus of purposely keeping vital information from Hispanic employees pertaining to the terms and conditions of their employment, changes in work status, and, more pointedly, safety. They claim they are being excluded because the information is not being delivered in Spanish.

Last week 12 custodians from the Auraria Campus filed an EEOC complaint against the Auraria Higher Education Center, which is the organization that maintains the campus for Metro State University of Denver, the Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver.

“What is sort of a neutral business practice, that they speak English on campus and it’s an English-only campus has a discriminatory impact on this group of workers,” said attorney Tim Markham.

Campus spokesman Blaine Nickeson said in response: “I don’t know if that’s a problem. I think it’s one of the concerns. I will go on to say there’s not a statute to translate.”

Watch the interview below: