ERATH COUNTY, Texas — Veronica Cajamarca is in the fight of her life.
She and her attorney are currently awaiting a response to a lawsuit filed this month. It's a fight, though, that started right around this time last year -- and one that Cajamarca said she never dreamed would happen.
"I will not give up," she said. "[I will] continue to fight for as long as I can."
Cajamarca is suing her former employer, Erath County Tax Assessor's Office, for discrimination after she said her boss Jennifer Carey forbade her from speaking Spanish at work.
"[Carey] handed me that letter, and I kind of read over it, and it said that English was not it was only to be spoken in the office unless I was helping a customer," Cajamarca said. "And I asked her, 'So, what happens if I don't sign this letter?' Because at the bottom of the letter, it states, if you do not sign it, you will be terminated."
According to the lawsuit, Carey told Cajamarca on Feb. 7, 2023, that she was going to have to sign an "English-only" memo in which she agreed to only speak English at work in order to stay employed -- and that, when Cajamarca refused, she was "constructively discharged" two days later, on Feb. 9.
Cajamarca said she believed the rule stemmed from some of her coworkers openly complaining about Carey, and the fact that Cajamarca and another translator at the office regularly spoke Spanish with each other.
Erath County attorney Jennifer Pence, who the county judge says approved the no-Spanish letter, did not respond to WFAA's requests for comment.
But Cajamarca said that Erath County Judge Brandon Huckabee called her and apologized for the incident, telling her the "no-Spanish" policy would never be a county rule. According to Cajamarca, Huckabee explained that Carey only consulted with county attorney Pence before attempting to institute the policy, and not the county's commissioners.
Still, Cajamarca said her life was turned upside down. She said that, after searching for a job, she ended up having to relocate her family four hours away just to make ends meet.
Civil rights attorney Rafe Foreman of the law firm Hutchison & Foreman said that, when Cajamarca shared with him her claims of what she'd endured, he found it hard to believe and wanted proof that it actually happened.
"I'm like, 'Do you have this in writing?'" Foreman said. "And sure enough, it is in writing."
Foreman said he was aghast when he saw the memo for himself.
"You can't speak Spanish in Texas?" Foreman asked. "Where can you speak it?"
Cajamarca's lawsuit seeks damages for the wages she lost for being fired. But it's also, Foreman said, about more than that.
"She lost her emotional stability," Foreman said of Cajamarca. "To get fired or put in a position to sign this or be fired is very emotionally draining and mentally exhausting."
For her part, Cajamarca said she hopes her case will help others who experience discrimination in the work place. She said she encourages people who have to face what she said she endured feel empowered to stand up for their rights.
Foreman said he is awaiting Erath County's respond to his filing. At that point, Foreman said, both sides will agree on a future hearing date -- and a possible trial date -- to discuss the matter further.