filed a lawsuit<\/a> against a Center, Colo. farm and its farm labor contractor over illegal obstruction of CLS\u2019s visits to workers staying at the farm\u2019s labor camp. The suit seeks to uphold CLS\u2019s right to visit workers at the camp and to prevent the defendants from continuing to violate the law.<\/p>\nMeeting with Colorado agricultural workers to provide information about their rights and the legal services CLS provides is an essential part of CLS\u2019s mission. Colorado law recognizes agricultural workers\u2019 right to receive visitors at their housing and prohibits employers from interfering with that access or retaliating against workers and their visitors.<\/p>\n
But Southern Colorado Farms, LLC and its various labor contractors, including most recently AgSocio, have consistently interfered by wrongly insisting CLS staff need permission to visit the labor camp, telling them to leave, following CLS staff around as they speak to workers, and taking pictures or video of CLS staff. At least twice, Southern Colorado Farms\u2019s agents have suggested that female CLS staff are sex workers rather than legal professionals. FarmSTAND and CLS attorneys are representing the organization in the suit.<\/p>\n
Colorado\u2019s landmark 2021 Farm Worker Bill of Rights enshrined the right of agricultural workers to receive visitors at their housing. Legislators who voted to limit a separate part of that law early in 2025 made clear that visitors\u2019 access to worker housing, including that of CLS and other service providers, remains in place. This week\u2019s lawsuit seeks to enforce crucial provisions of the Farm Worker Bill of Rights that the legislature has chosen to preserve.<\/p>\n
Most if not all workers who live at the Southern Colorado Farms labor camp are Mexican nationals working in the U.S. via the H-2A program, a group exceptionally vulnerable to employer exploitation. The camp is surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with razor wire. CLS has received multiple reports in recent years that workers at this camp were not receiving enough food, and that community members tossed bags of food over the razor-wire fence to support them.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarm workers, like everyone else, must be able to access basic and necessary services, including those related to their health and safety, which at times may require privacy or confidentiality.\u202fIt is no different for those living in housing provided by their employer. In fact, the need for autonomy and privacy in accessing services may be even more crucial when dealing with a private or sensitive matter that may be related to their employment,\u201d said Jenifer Rodriguez, managing attorney of the Farm Worker Rights Division of Colorado Legal Services and co-counsel on the case. \u201cRetaliating against our staff when they\u2019re just trying to make sure farm workers are aware of their legal rights and the safe, reliable resources available to them is unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s lawsuit represents the next battle in a decades-long fight for workers\u2019 dignity in the area. In the 1970s, at a labor camp near the one at issue in today\u2019s suit, the United Farm Workers sought to gain access to meet with lettuce workers, and filed a federal lawsuit that resulted in an order recognizing UFW\u2019s First Amendment right to speak with migrant farmworkers at the camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cColorado\u2019s Farm Worker Bill of Rights enables organizations like Colorado Legal Services to provide isolated farm workers with critical information about their rights and to meet with them at their housing in order to do so,\u201d said Kelsey Eberly, Senior Staff Attorney at FarmSTAND and counsel for CLS. \u201cWe are taking this action today to enforce legal protections that the people\u2019s representatives enacted, and that the defendants are flouting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Qui\u00e9nes somos<\/strong><\/p>\nFarmSTAND is a legal advocacy organization devoted to bringing about a fair food system for all, where everyone is able to work in conditions that are dignified, fair, and healthy.<\/em><\/p>\nColorado Legal Services is Colorado\u2019s statewide nonprofit legal aid program providing civil legal assistance\u2014which does not include criminal or traffic matters\u2014to low-income individuals and older Coloradans throughout the state. Its 12 offices provide free legal assistance in a broad variety of legal areas, including eviction defense, consumer protection, services to survivors of serious crime, representation for domestic violence survivors, and many others.<\/em><\/p>\nAbout 1 in 8 Coloradans\u202fqualify financially for CLS\u2019s services. CLS\u2019s current staff of 90 attorneys and 56 paralegals is supplemented by a robust private attorney involvement program. Learn more at\u202fwww.coloradolegalservices.org.<\/em><\/p>\nYou can support Colorado Legal Services by donating to the Legal Aid Foundation of Colorado at\u202fwww.legalaidfoundation.org\/donate\u202for 1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 701 Denver, Colorado 80203.\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Servicios Legales de Colorado demanda a una granja del sur de Colorado por interferir con el acceso de trabajadores agr\u00edcolas a servicios<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n