Employment Discrimination Lawyer in Denver — Fighting for Immigrant Workers

TALK TO A LAWYER WHO FIGHTS FOR WORKERS — (888) 746-5245

If your boss has threatened to call immigration, fired you because of your accent, or paid you less because of where you're from — you have rights. Even if you are undocumented. Especially if you are undocumented. We are a Denver civil rights firm that fights for immigrant workers in English and Spanish, and we have beaten the federal government, the state, and municipalities. Talk to us — confidentially, free, in your language.

Free consultation · Confidential · Se habla español · Denver-based · Statewide representation

You came here to work. You took the shifts nobody else wanted. You learned the job, you trained the new hires, you covered for the boss when he needed you. Then something changed. Maybe it was after you asked about overtime pay. Maybe it was after you spoke up about a hand injury that never got reported. Maybe it was the day you said the word "harassment" out loud. And suddenly the schedule got worse, the comments got sharper — or your supervisor said the line that freezes every immigrant worker in this country: "If you keep complaining, I'll call immigration."

That threat is not legal. The retaliation is not legal. And the silence that lets employers do this — generation after generation, in Denver kitchens and meatpacking plants and construction sites and hotels — is exactly what this page is here to break.

This page exists because the law protects you, and most of the law firms that know it have not bothered to tell you in your language. Federal civil rights law, Colorado civil rights law, federal wage law, and federal anti-retaliation law all reach workers regardless of immigration status. Below, we walk through what those laws actually do, what immigration-based retaliation looks like, what to do the minute it happens, and what working with a Denver firm that fights for immigrant workers actually looks like — from the first phone call to the courtroom.

You Have Rights at Work — Regardless of Immigration Status

Federal and Colorado law protect workers from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. None of those protections turn off because of someone's immigration status. The employers who tell you otherwise are betting you will not check.

What Federal and Colorado Law Actually Protect

Five bodies of law do most of the work in an immigrant-worker case:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.) bans discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin at workplaces with 15 or more employees. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces it. National-origin protection covers your accent, your name, your country of origin, and the language you speak at home.
42 U.S.C. § 1981 guarantees the right to make and enforce contracts — including employment contracts — free of race discrimination. By its plain text, it reaches "all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States." Status is not a defense an employer can raise. The statute of limitations is four years, and you do not have to file with EEOC first.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.) requires minimum wage and overtime pay for hours actually worked. It applies to undocumented workers for hours already worked.
8 U.S.C. § 1324b, enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), prohibits citizenship-status discrimination, document abuse during the I-9 process, and retaliation. Most competitor websites never mention this statute. It is one of the strongest tools in an immigrant worker's case.
The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) (C.R.S. § 24-34-401 et seq.) is broader than Title VII. It covers Colorado employers with even a single employee. It protects national origin, ancestry, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, and — after the 2023 POWR Act — marital status. The Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD) enforces it.

"But I'm Undocumented" — The Direct Answer

Yes, you can bring a case. The U.S. Supreme Court's 2002 decision in Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB limits one specific remedy — back-pay for hours an undocumented worker would have worked but for an unlawful firing under the National Labor Relations Act. Hoffman did not close the door on Title VII discrimination claims, on §1981 race-discrimination claims, on FLSA wages for hours you actually worked, or on Colorado state-law claims under CADA.

What that means in practice: an undocumented worker in Denver who is fired because of national origin, harassed because of accent, or sexually harassed by a supervisor who used immigration status as leverage can still bring a case. The remedies still on the table generally include compensatory damages, punitive damages where the conduct is egregious, injunctive relief, and — under FLSA — wages for hours actually worked. Your federal court is open to you. Your state remedies are open to you.

This is the part employers do not want you to know.

Why Employers Get Away With This

Because workers do not call. Because the threat of immigration consequences keeps people quiet. Because most immigration enforcement happens through fear, not paperwork. Because the law firms that own the top of the search results write in English to English-speaking HR professionals, not to workers on the line.

That silence is the system. This page exists to break it.

When Your Boss Threatens to Call ICE — Immigration-Based Retaliation

Latina worker at a desk taking a distressing phone call, hand to forehead — workplace retaliation and immigration-threat context

When an employer threatens immigration consequences against a worker who has complained about wages, safety, harassment, or discrimination, that is retaliation. It is unlawful. And it is one of the most common patterns we see in our intake calls.

Why This Is Illegal

Federal anti-retaliation law protects workers who oppose discrimination, file a complaint, participate in an investigation, or assert a workplace right. Title VII bars retaliation. The FLSA bars retaliation. The National Labor Relations Act bars retaliation, including immigration-based retaliation against workers engaged in protected concerted activity (the Supreme Court addressed this directly in Sure-Tan, Inc. v. NLRB, 467 U.S. 883 (1984)). And 8 U.S.C. § 1324b, enforced by DOJ's IER, independently prohibits retaliation tied to immigration-related employment practices.

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, expanded by the 2023 POWR Act, also prohibits retaliation against workers who oppose discriminatory practices.

The point: the moment an employer brings up immigration status to punish a worker for asserting a workplace right, the employer has handed that worker a separate cause of action.

What Constructive Immigration Threats Look Like

Employers rarely write "I will call ICE" in an email. The threats come in patterns we recognize:

A sudden I-9 audit announced the day after a worker complains about unpaid overtime
"We're going to start verifying everyone's papers" said in a meeting after a harassment complaint
E-Verify weaponization — re-running employees through E-Verify selectively after they speak up
A supervisor telling a worker, in front of others, "be careful, immigration is everywhere right now"
"If you don't like it, go back to your country"
Threats made to a worker's family member or co-worker, expecting the message to travel

If any of those happened to you after you raised a workplace concern, write down what was said, who said it, when, and who heard it. Then call us.

What to Do Right Now If It Just Happened

Write it down. Date, time, exact words, who was present, what you had complained about beforehand. Write it on your own phone or your own paper, not company property.
Save the evidence. Texts, emails, schedules that changed, write-ups, voicemails. Forward anything from a work account to a personal account before you lose access.
Do not sign anything new — no separation agreement, no "voluntary resignation," no settlement, no acknowledgment of misconduct — without talking to a lawyer first.
Do not quit if you can avoid it. Constructive discharge is a real claim, but staying employed (where safe) preserves remedies and evidence.
Call us. Talk to a Lawyer Who Fights for Workers — (888) 746-5245

For deeper detail on this exact scenario — the immigration-threat pattern, what we file, and how fast we move — see our signature page on what to do when your boss threatens to call ICE.

If the threat came from federal agents at your worksite, not just from your boss, see our cross-pillar guide on worksite ICE raids.

Talk to a Lawyer Who Fights for Workers

The Forms Discrimination Takes Against Immigrant Workers

Discrimination against immigrant workers does not always look like a slur. It often looks like a policy, a schedule, a paycheck, or a promotion that never came. These are the patterns we see most in Denver and across the Front Range.

National-Origin Discrimination — When "Where You're From" Becomes a Reason

National-origin discrimination is illegal under Title VII, CADA, and (where citizenship status is the basis) 8 U.S.C. § 1324b. It includes treating someone worse because of where they or their ancestors are from, their accent, their name, or perceived ethnic characteristics. It includes "you don't fit our culture" when "our culture" really means "not Mexican." It includes assigning workers from one country to the worst shifts, the worst routes, or the worst stations. EEOC's enforcement guidance has long made clear that national-origin protections cover undocumented workers as well as citizens.

See our national-origin discrimination cluster for the full analysis.

Language and Accent Discrimination — English-Only Rules, "I Can't Understand You," Accent Mockery

English-only workplace rules are not automatically illegal — but they are presumptively suspect under EEOC guidance unless the employer can prove a genuine business necessity for that specific time and task. A "speak English at all times, including breaks and the parking lot" rule almost never survives scrutiny. Mocking an accent, refusing to promote a qualified worker because customers "can't understand" them, or writing someone up for speaking Spanish to a coworker on lunch break — those are national-origin discrimination cases.

See our cluster page on English-only rules and accent discrimination.

Race Discrimination Under §1981 — Applies Regardless of Status

42 U.S.C. § 1981 protects every person in the jurisdiction of the United States from race discrimination in contracts, including employment. It applies to undocumented workers. It does not require an EEOC charge. It carries a four-year statute of limitations. For workers who missed an EEOC deadline, §1981 is often the path that keeps the case alive.

See our cluster page on race discrimination under §1981.

Wage Theft as a Civil-Rights Violation — When Underpayment Is Targeted, Not Accidental

Under FLSA and the Colorado Wage Claim Act (C.R.S. § 8-4-101 et seq.), workers — including undocumented workers — are owed minimum wage and overtime for hours actually worked. When an employer systematically underpays Spanish-speaking workers while paying English-speaking workers correctly, when overtime hours are erased only from certain workers' time cards, when "training time" or "off-the-clock cleanup" only applies to immigrant workers — that pattern is wage theft and national-origin discrimination. Both claims live in the same case.

See our cluster page on wage theft against immigrant workers.

Sexual Harassment of Immigrant Women — The Status-Leverage Pattern

The most common pattern in our intake is a supervisor who knows a worker is undocumented and uses that status as leverage to coerce sexual contact, silence, or compliance. That is not a "harassment" case. That is a layered Title VII case, a CADA case (now broader under POWR's redefined harassment standard — discussed below), often a §1981 case, and frequently a §1324b retaliation case as well. The status-leverage pattern is also the pattern most likely to be met with immigration threats when the worker tries to report. We move fast on these.

See our cluster page on sexual harassment of immigrant women.

Disability and Pregnancy at Work

Pregnancy discrimination is illegal under Title VII and CADA. The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act adds accommodation requirements. The Americans with Disabilities Act and CADA both require reasonable accommodation for qualifying disabilities — protection that does not turn on immigration status. Workers fired for going to a prenatal appointment, denied a stool to sit on during recovery from surgery, or pushed out for a pregnancy-related condition have a case.

See our cluster page on pregnancy and disability at work.

Facing discrimination or retaliation at work?
Talk to a Novo Legal employment-rights attorney today — we fight for workers across Colorado and Washington.

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Colorado-Specific Protections

Colorado workers have stronger protections than workers in most states. The combination of CADA, the 2023 POWR Act, and Colorado's wage-and-hour regime creates a plaintiff posture that does not exist in much of the country — and Denver and the Front Range are the heart of that enforcement landscape.

CADA and POWR — Broader Than Federal Title VII

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act covers any employer with at least one employee — far broader than Title VII's 15-employee floor. That alone reaches thousands of small Denver employers (restaurants, cleaning crews, small construction outfits, family-run hospitality) where federal law leaves workers exposed.

The Protecting Opportunities and Workers' Rights Act (POWR — Senate Bill 23-172), effective August 7, 2023 — significantly expanded CADA. The two changes that matter most for immigrant workers:

Harassment is redefined. POWR removed the old "severe or pervasive" requirement that federal courts have used for decades to throw out hostile-work-environment claims at the motion-to-dismiss stage. Under Colorado law now, harassment based on a protected class is unlawful when the conduct is unwelcome and is subjectively and objectively offensive — a far lower threshold.
Marital status is a protected class. Workers cannot be discriminated against based on whether they are married, single, divorced, or widowed.

POWR also tightened employer affirmative defenses, restricted the use of NDAs in discrimination settlements, and extended personnel-record retention to five years. For workers, that means more evidence, kept longer, with fewer escape hatches for employers.

CCRD vs. EEOC — Where to File, Why Both, What Colorado Does Differently

The Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD) is the state agency that enforces CADA. The EEOC enforces federal employment discrimination law. CCRD and EEOC have a worksharing agreement, which means a charge filed with one is generally cross-filed with the other. For Colorado workers, the practical effect is that you generally have up to 300 days from the discriminatory act to file a Title VII charge in Colorado (federal default is 180 days; Colorado's status as a deferral state extends it). Other claims — §1981, FLSA, CADA-only filings through CCRD, certain federal-employee claims — run on different clocks. Some are shorter. Section 1981 race-discrimination claims have a four-year statute of limitations and do not require any agency filing at all.

Filing deadlines are unforgiving. Do not rely on a website summary — call a lawyer the same week the discrimination happens.

Anti-Retaliation Under Colorado Law

Colorado law, expanded by POWR, prohibits retaliation against workers who oppose discrimination, file a complaint, or participate in an investigation. (House Bill 21-1075 is sometimes mentioned in this context — that bill was a 2021 terminology-cleanup measure that replaced "illegal alien" with "worker without authorization" in Colorado statutes governing public-service contracts. It is a dignity-of-language reform; it is not the source of Colorado's anti-retaliation protection. The substantive anti-retaliation framework lives in CADA and POWR.)

Why Denver and Front Range Immigrant Workers Have a Stronger Posture Than Most

The combination matters. CADA's small-employer reach plus POWR's lowered harassment threshold plus the four-year window of §1981 plus FLSA's wage-theft remedies plus DOJ IER's §1324b enforcement equals a plaintiff toolkit that is, by national standards, unusually deep. Denver is also home to a federal district court that has handled major civil-rights litigation, a state CCRD with active enforcement, and a regional EEOC office. The infrastructure to take a case is here.

What Happens When You Call Novo Legal

Aaron Elinoff, founding attorney at Novo Legal Group in Denver, Colorado. — *Aaron Elinoff, founding attorney at Novo Legal Group.*

We are a Denver civil rights firm. We litigate against employers, against police departments, against federal agencies. We are bilingual top to bottom — partners, paralegals, intake. When you call, you talk to a person who speaks your language.

Free, Confidential Consultation — In Spanish or English

The first conversation costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. We listen, we ask the questions that matter, and we tell you straight whether we think you have a case and what the next steps look like.

Confidentiality

Your communications with our attorneys are protected by the attorney-client privilege. We do not share client information with ICE or any law-enforcement agency without your consent, except where required by law. In the course of representation, we may communicate with immigration agencies (such as USCIS or EOIR) on your behalf — any such communication is coordinated with you and directed by your representation agreement.

How Fee Arrangements Work for Workers

In qualifying employment-discrimination and wage cases, we generally work on a contingency-fee basis — you pay nothing up front and we get paid only if we recover for you. Federal civil-rights statutes also provide for attorney's fees to be paid by the losing employer in many successful cases, which expands the universe of cases we can take. The exact fee arrangement is set by your written representation agreement.

What We Need From You to Evaluate

Bring (or describe over the phone): your dates of employment, the names and titles of the people involved, the words said and the actions taken, anything in writing (texts, emails, schedules, write-ups, pay stubs, separation paperwork), and a timeline of what happened in what order. Do not worry about getting it perfect. Bring what you have. We will work with it.

Real Scenarios — Is This Discrimination?

The following are illustrative hypothetical scenarios. They are not drawn from real Novo Legal clients or real cases. They are here so you can recognize the pattern.

Scenario 1 — The Schedule Change

María has worked the night shift at a Denver food-processing plant for six years. She asks her supervisor about unpaid overtime. The next week, her shift moves to the worst rotation, her hours are cut, and her supervisor says, in front of two co-workers, "if you don't like the schedule, go back to where you came from." She is undocumented.

This is national-origin discrimination, retaliation, and likely a wage-and-hour claim — all in the same case. Status does not bar it. If this sounds like your situation, talk to us.

Scenario 2 — The English-Only Rule

A hotel housekeeping crew of mostly Spanish-speaking women is told they cannot speak Spanish anywhere on property — including in break rooms and the parking lot. A worker who continues to speak Spanish to a coworker on lunch break is written up and then fired.

EEOC guidance treats blanket English-only rules as presumptively unlawful national-origin discrimination absent a specific business necessity for the specific time and task. The firing is likely retaliatory. If this sounds like your situation, talk to us.

Scenario 3 — The Immigration Threat

A line cook at a Denver restaurant reports to HR that the kitchen manager has been touching female staff. Two days later, the owner pulls the line cook into the office and says: "We're going to need to re-verify everyone's I-9s. If your papers don't check out, we'll have to let you go." The line cook is undocumented.

This is sexual-harassment retaliation, immigration-based retaliation, and an 8 U.S.C. § 1324b document-abuse claim — three causes of action layered on each other. The status-leverage pattern is exactly what federal anti-retaliation law was designed to reach. If this sounds like your situation, talk to us.

For more illustrative scenarios across employment-discrimination patterns, see more scenarios like this.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sue my employer if I'm undocumented?

Generally, yes. Title VII, §1981, FLSA wages-for-work-performed, and Colorado's CADA all reach undocumented workers. The U.S. Supreme Court's Hoffman Plastic decision narrowed one specific NLRA back-pay remedy for hours not worked; it did not close the door on the broader civil-rights and wage frameworks. The exact remedies depend on the facts of your case.

What if my boss threatened to call immigration after I complained?

That is retaliation, and it is independently illegal. Federal anti-retaliation law (under Title VII, FLSA, NLRA, and 8 U.S.C. § 1324b) and Colorado's POWR-expanded CADA all prohibit retaliation against workers who oppose discrimination or assert a workplace right. The threat itself often becomes a separate cause of action on top of the underlying discrimination claim.

How long do I have to file a complaint with EEOC or CCRD?

For Title VII / CADA charges in Colorado, the practical deadline is generally 300 days from the discriminatory act (federal default is 180 days, extended in Colorado by the EEOC-CCRD worksharing agreement). Section 1981 race-discrimination claims have a four-year statute of limitations and do not require an EEOC filing. FLSA wage claims generally run two years, or three years for willful violations; the Colorado Wage Claim Act has its own deadlines and remedies that may apply in addition. Deadlines are unforgiving and fact-specific — call immediately.

Will my employer find out I came to a lawyer?

Your communications with our attorneys are confidential and protected by the attorney-client privilege. If your case proceeds to formal action — an EEOC or CCRD charge, a lawsuit, a demand letter — the employer learns at the point you choose to put them on notice. Until then, the conversation stays between you and us. We will walk you through exactly when, how, and on what terms an employer would learn. Talking to a civil-rights lawyer is not a trigger for any immigration agency notification — Novo Legal does not share client information with ICE, USCIS, or any immigration agency without your consent, except where required by law.

Do I have to file with EEOC before I can sue?

For Title VII claims, yes — you generally need a right-to-sue letter from EEOC before filing in federal court. For §1981 race-discrimination claims, no — you can file directly. For CADA claims through CCRD, the state process is its own track. Many cases include both federal and state claims; the strategy depends on the facts.

What can I recover if I win?

The remedies depend on which laws are in play. In a typical immigrant-worker case, the menu generally includes: back wages for hours actually worked under FLSA; compensatory damages for emotional distress and economic loss under Title VII, §1981, and CADA; punitive damages where the employer's conduct was egregious; injunctive relief (reinstatement, policy changes); and attorney's fees paid by the losing employer under the federal fee-shifting statutes. The U.S. Supreme Court's Hoffman Plastic decision limits one specific NLRA back-pay remedy for undocumented workers (back-pay for hours not worked under the NLRA). It does not extinguish the other remedies above.

What if I was paid in cash or off the books?

You are still owed minimum wage and overtime for hours you actually worked under FLSA and the Colorado Wage Claim Act. Cash payment, no W-2, no I-9 on file, "1099" misclassification — none of those defeat the claim. They often strengthen it, because they tend to evidence an employer's awareness that the arrangement was unlawful. Bring whatever you have: your own notes, text messages with schedules, deposit records, photos of clock-in screens.

I'm afraid of retaliation. What protects me?

The same laws that protect you from discrimination also protect you from retaliation for opposing it. Title VII, §1981, FLSA, NLRA, 8 U.S.C. § 1324b, and Colorado's CADA all carry anti-retaliation provisions. Immigration-based retaliation is a recognized and actionable form of retaliation. Document everything; call us early; do not sign anything new without legal advice.

Why Novo Legal

We are a bilingual, community-rooted human rights firm. We are not a corporate law firm with a Spanish landing page. Our partners, our paralegals, and our intake speak Spanish because we are Spanish-speakers. We have litigated against the federal government, the State of Colorado, and Colorado municipalities — and we have won. Our civil-rights and immigration teams work the same case at the same time, because we know that for an immigrant worker, an employment problem is almost never only an employment problem.

When your boss bets you will not call, we are the call he is afraid of.

Take the Next Step

Your rights are not contingent on your status. They are not contingent on whether you are a "good" or "deserving" worker. They are not contingent on your accent or your country. The law protects you. We enforce it.