09 17 25 Employment Attorney Steven Murray discusses lawsuit over the Denver layoffs

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nearly a dozen former Denver City employees filing appeals challenging
their layoffs from the city. Last month, one hundred and
sixty nine city employees were let go in an effort
to close the two hundred million dollar budget deficits.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
One of those fired employees is Jessica Calderon, a Latino woman,
twenty one year employee with the city and senior director
of the Mayor's Office of Social Equity and Innovation. She
believes her layoff was more personal and retaliatory. Joining us
now in the KOA Common Spirit Health hotline is Stephen Murray,
Denver employment attorney with Murray Law who's representing Miss Calderon
in the lawsuit. Glad to have you on with us

(00:32):
this morning. Talk about your client's case a little bit.
Why does she feel that her layoff was more targeted
than it was necessary?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Good morning, Jessica. Jessica worked for the opposing candidate in
the twenty twenty three mayorial election. She supported doctor Lisa Calderon,
which is not any relation. And then when Ben Sanders
became her boss, he's chief of the Equity office. He

(01:03):
repeatedly badged her about that and the association and it
was just this one thing after another. It's like a
rock falling down a hill. In August of twenty four
she filed a lawsuit. In November of twenty four she
filed a lawsuit adding Sanders as an individual defendant, and

(01:26):
it culminated and then there was a series of other things.
They denied her promotion, they excluded her from public recognition,
they had meetings in which she didn't attend, and the
officials talked about her lawsuit. And at the end of it,
when she was informed of the layoff on August eighteen,

(01:52):
she was the highest ranking individual in the office, had
the most seniority. She was basically a founder of the
Office of Social Equity and Innovation, Sterling record sterling performance appraisals,
and the director that they kept over her had only
been there ten months and had never received an evaluation.

(02:15):
So we believe it's retaliatory and that is our case.
And this morning we have a federal court hearing or
a temporary restraining order, because today is going to be
the last day of the individuals who are laid off.
They have thirty days and I think today's the last day.
Stephen Aig is looking at no salary so I.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Know you're representing Jessica in this case. You may not
be representing some of the other Denver Empacity employees. But
when you look at some of their excuses or some
of the rationales for being laid off, do you feel
like there's similar factors? Do you feel like there's similar
connections those who maybe didn't support the mayor's principles also
got that pink slip.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
I can't. I don't know about any specifically. I think
one of the advantages that Jessica has over the other
employees is she had an ongoing lawsuit against them already,
so retaliation may be a little easier to find. But
the routes to contest this is employees can go through

(03:20):
the Career Service Board and challenge their layoff. They were
also given an option to take severance, and if they
take severance, they can't file a lawsuit. And I just
think Jessica is in a unique position.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Have you heard from the Mayor's office or anybody connected
with the mayor's office at.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
This point, No, I have not. They're represented by the
city attorney, and once there's legal action that they go
through the city attorney's office.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
And you feel when it's in Jessica's case that this
really is the last straw. There's been a lot of
ripple effects of what she feels like pushback from past
situations and past law suits, and then the layoff was
just the nail on the coffin correct.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
She engaged in several acts of First Amendment activity. One
of the acts is you can't retaliate against somebody for
filing a lawsuit. That's called petitioning the government under the
First Amendment. So we believe it's linked to her political associations,
to her protected activity complaining to them, and it was

(04:28):
one in twenty twenty five. This year she received the
lowest performance appraisal in her entire career, and so it
is a culmination of things. And the same decision makers
were involved at all stages. Ben Sanders, he's the chief

(04:49):
equity officer and Brian Feruz he's the deputy chief, and
they were the ones that evaluated her, they were the
ones that made the decisions in the layoff, they were
the ones that ranked the employees. So we feel something
is not right, and Jessica is just a terrific person.
She's pulled herself up by the Bootscrafts. Highly educated, very devoted,

(05:14):
very loyal, and this is heartbreaking for everybody involved because
they have families, they have children, they have health insurance.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
He is an attorney with Murray Law representing Jessica called
her on It's Stephen Murray. Thank you so much for
your time.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Okay, thank you, sir bybut