After 15 years of working hard for Casino San Pablo, my health deteriorated. I was fired for being too injured to work. My insurance has been cut off and I need surgery. Can you help?

I came to the US from El Salvador in 2000, escaping violence. I got a job as a dishwasher at the Casino San Pablo, and soon I brought my family here. At the Casino we had a union, and I got involved to improve my community. 

By 2010, the Casino was bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars each year in profits, but we were still waiting for good wages. So we started to fight back. For four years we protested. My shift was overnight and I didn’t sleep many days because I was busy fighting. I even planted a Union Garden at my house to help feed myself and other workers through our struggle - with help from many of you.

In 2014 we won our contract. But that’s when my health started to go. Being a dishwasher was heavy work - cleaning cold freezers and hot kitchens, lifting heavy mats, reaching up to scrub ceilings. I started feeling pain in my back, knee and shoulders. I fell down at times, but I kept working - I thought I could tough it out because I needed my job. One day I couldn’t lift food to my mouth. I got up to work and I couldn’t move my shoulder enough to put my clothes on.  

The Casino sent me to a clinic. Then their insurance sent me a check for $870 and said they were closing my case. Their medical examiner said my injuries were primarily unrelated to work. I wanted to appeal, but I could not find a lawyer to help - because the Casino is owned by a tribe, so it isn’t covered by the California Workers Compensation system. 

I’m not healed yet - I still need knee surgery - and the Casino refuses to give me any more light duty. I used up the last of the three months of medical leave the Casino gives us. So, after 15 years on the job, they fired me for not being well enough to work. And they cut off my health insurance, so I don’t know how I’ll pay for my surgery. 

Can you help me pay for 3 months of COBRA coverage so I can have my surgery?

My co-workers are still fighting for better wages, so they can take care of their families. They are fighting for longer medical leaves so that workers who get sick or injured or decide to have a family are not thrown out so easily. I want to be well enough to stand with them. If I never get my job back, I want to make sure this never happens to another worker. 

Please help if you can, and I will be there with you in your struggles!