Lucila Rosas

Meeting of November 13, 2013 - National Origin Discrimination in Today's Workplace

Lucila (Lucy) G. Rosas is an Administrative Judge with the Denver Field Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. As an Administrative Judge, Ms. Rosas presides over federal sector employment discrimination complaints.

Ms. Rosas is currently on detail to the Office of the General Counsel of the EEOC. She is the Lead Coordinator of the EEOC's Immigrant Worker Team which was established to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for the EEOC to address the intersection of national origin, race, gender, age, disability and/or religious discrimination issues affecting workers of foreign national origin, including issues related to human trafficking and immigrant workers.

Prior to becoming an Administrative Judge, Ms. Rosas was a Senior Trial Attorney with the legal units of both the Phoenix and the San Francisco District Offices where she litigated employment discrimination cases on behalf of the EEOC for approximately 11 years. During her tenure as a trial attorney, Ms. Rosas developed and litigated many cases on behalf of victims of discrimination, including large class actions and cases involving farmworkers. The cases ranged in issues from egregious sexual harassment, national origin harassment, religious discrimination and retaliation.

Specifically, Ms. Rosas, along with co-counsel, successfully tried and obtained a $390,000 jury verdict for an individual of Moroccan and Muslim decent who was terminated in retaliation for complaining of discrimination. (EEOC v. Go Daddy Software, Inc.) She also litigated a large class action case alleging religious discrimination and retaliation which ultimately settled for $1.875 million. (EEOC v. University of Phoenix)

Ms. Rosas developed and litigated the case EEOC/Tamayo v. Harris Farms, Inc., a case involving egregious sexual assault and harassment of a farmworker woman by her supervisor. This case was ultimately tried by the EEOC and the jury awarded Ms. Tamayo nearly $1 million.

Ms. Rosas also litigated other cases on behalf of farmworkers such as EEOC v. Coastal Valley ($200,000 settlement for class of farmworker women who were victims of sexual harassment, constructive discharge and retaliation); EEOC v. Prima Frutta, et al, ($235,000 settlement for class of farmworkers harassed because of national origin); EEOC v. RC Packing ($51,000 settlement for female farmworker subjected to sexual harassment and retaliation). She was also part of the legal team that determined eligibility of victim's claims under the EEOC's Consent Decree in EEOC v. Tanimura & Antle, a $1.855 million settlement, the largest settlement to date for a class of farmworker women who were victims of sexual harassment and retaliation.

Prior to joining the EEOC, Ms. Rosas was Staff Attorney and Program Director with Organizacion en California de Lideres Campesinas, Inc. (Lideres Campesinas), a grassroots, statewide farmworker women's organization dedicated to empowering farmworker women and developing leadership skills. While at Lideres, she represented victims of domestic violence in their petitions to gain immigration status under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). She also provided legal advice, education and trainings to farmworker women on worker's rights, specifically sexual harassment and sexual assault, and on issues affecting the family and health, such as domestic violence, pesticide exposure and HIV/AIDS.

In 2011, Ms. Rosas was awarded the Immigrant Liberty Award by the Colorado chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) for her advocacy work on behalf of the immigrant community. She has also been a recipient of the EEOC's Chairwoman Award for her work in EEOC v. Harris Farms case.

Ms. Rosas obtained her B.A. degree in History and Ethnic Studies from U.C. Berkeley in 1991 and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1995. Ms. Rosas resides in Denver, Colorado. She is married and has three daughters.