University of Colorado Regent John Carson is involved in a federal discrimination lawsuit alleging the company of which he is vice president denied spousal health insurance to an employee because of their sexual orientation.
The lawsuit filed against Cherry Creek Mortgage Co. and UnitedHealthcare alleged Carson, a vice president for the mortgage company, told 59-year-old California-based employee Judith Dominguez that her lesbian marriage was not in line with the company’s “clear criteria for spousal benefits,” adding his religious views that employees should not marry a same-sex person.
Carson, a publicly elected Republican regent from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, did not return a request for comment. His term on the board is from 2015 to 2021.
Kirsten Hamling, a vice president for the mortgage company that is based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and operates in 24 states, said the company’s updated health coverage policy now offers coverage to same-sex spouses.
“Cherry Creek Mortgage Co. has always, and will always support its employees and their families,” Hamling said in an email. “We believe we were at all times acting within our legal and business rights. We have taken this as an opportunity to reevaluate and change our policy.”
“Going forward, we will cover same sex spouses in our health plan effective immediately,” she added. “We believe this is consistent with our values, and in the best interest of our employees and community.”
University of Colorado spokesman Ken McConnellogue declined to comment on the school regent’s involvement in the lawsuit, adding: “What regents do in their professional careers does not represent the university, nor is it our business.”
An attorney for Dominguez, Dan Stormer, said it’s “ridiculous” for a university to ignore Carson’s involvement.
“One of my children went to University of Colorado Boulder, and it causes me to rethink the educational value of the institution,” Stormer said. “The idea that you could have someone who, despite clear U.S. Supreme Court authority, says they will only recognize a marriage as between a man and a woman is just an affront to the educational system. The idea that the Board of Regents can engage in religious hypocrisy and then sit on the board of the very entity that is supposed to allow young minds to develop is ridiculous. Somebody who represents an entity as close-minded as Cherry Creek should not be in a position to influence young minds.”
According to the lawsuit, Dominguez and wife Patricia Martinez, who were enrolled in Cherry Creek’s health insurance plan in 2016, were denied re-enrollment at the end of the year “because Cherry Creek covers ‘spouses who are in a legal union between one man and one woman.'”
Martinez and Dominguez have been together for 29 years, legally marrying in California in 2013. The couple was no stranger to discrimination, the lawsuit said, as a brick was thrown through Dominguez’s insurance office window in the early 2000s. In insurance polices issued and mailed to her clients, Dominguez said an LGBTQ slur appeared next to her name.
Cherry Creek also allegedly told Dominguez that it would retroactively retract the health benefits already given to her and Martinez for the previous year, leaving the couple with more than $40,000 in “unexpected health care bills for past treatments,” the lawsuit read.
Martinez had a heart attack in late 2015 and needed follow-up care in 2016 and 2017.
The lawsuit said the company claimed to be “Christian-based” as part of its reasoning for denying the couple insurance.
Dominguez later filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In addition to the denied insurance, Dominguez claimed Cherry Creek retaliated against her by moving her to a different office that eventually closed and terminating her from the company.
After termination, Stormer said his client’s picture was used on the Cherry Creek Mortgage website with a promotional statement and forged signature of Dominguez’s name. Stormer claimed the advertisement — which was for a branch of the company Dominguez never worked for — was touted because Dominguez was a Latina employee and the company was trying to appear diverse.
Sara Grossman, communications manager for Denver-based LGBTQ and human rights advocacy group Matthew Shepard Foundation, said if the allegations are true, Cherry Creek Mortgage violated a nondiscrimination law intended to protect LGBTQ workers.
“They are doing this by denying insurance to this woman simply because she is a lesbian,” Grossman said. “We think that the EEOC will see this point. The federal government and the state government both acknowledge this relationship and both acknowledge the rights that are attached to it. Denying these women insurance violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. It does the exact opposite of what Justice Kennedy described as the ‘constellation of benefits’ attached to marriage equality.”
Last week, Carson mentioned a new undertaking he’s spearheading among regents for a required course to be offered to all CU students in civic literacy, stressing he felt college students didn’t have a basic understanding of the Constitution.
“I’m personally starting to get a little nervous on where this country is headed and the lack of a shared knowledge,” Carson said during that regents committee meeting.
The lawsuit, reported Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times, alleged violation of the Affordable Care Act, wrongful termination, discrimination based on sex, retaliation, violation of the Equal Pay Act, violation of multiple California laws and unauthorized use of a name or likeness for commercial use.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages and demand a jury trial.
“You are entitled to your free time. You are entitled to your First Amendment rights. But those First Amendment rights cannot directly become an affront to the educational process,” Stormer said.
