I am speaking from personal experience. My fiancé, an African American individual, suffered a traumatic workplace injury and was disabled from using a defective product.
Another individual, who is Caucasian, suffered the same fate. However, the responses to these two identical cases were vastly different. Proper procedures and protocols were followed when dealing with the Caucasian colleague's situation, but similarly due care was not extended towards my fiancé. Is this discrimination on the basis of race or sexual orientation?

This is not a standalone incident. According to a 2020 study by the Center for American Progress, African Americans continue to face systematic challenges in the labour market - access to good jobs, wage gap and workplace discrimination, to name a few. The study noted that African Americans are twice as likely to be unemployed and earn nearly 30% less when they find a job. It is high time we demand change.

This is not okay. Too many people have suffered from such practices worldwide. We cannot, and should not, allow companies to lie, manipulate or turn a blind eye towards their employees.

By signing this petition, we collectively call for enacted policies to hold companies accountable for equal treatment of all employees, regardless of their race or sexual orientation.

The attorneys that were representing my fiancé were not representing her case correctly. Those individuals involved should be investigated in the matter. She has not received any of her Scheduled Loss Of Use Award from the treating physician who completed the MMI(maximum medical improvement)which resulted in her being 57.5% permanently disabled. Nor did she receive any Board Of Awards from NYS Workers Compensation Board.

The employer Cornell University did not provide an accurate description for the work related injury reported to OSHA. OSHA was notified of a laceration not an amputation. Also, when she hired a personal injury lawyer for the defective product, the attorney sent out a demand for product preservation letter. This letter was stating that the experts hired by attorney were coming to inspect the defective product and would need it for evidence.

In return, Cornell University had a maintenance worker fix the defective product. Instead of following proper protocol, and sending it back to the manufacturer so the attorney could sue the manufacturer. Cornell University took it upon themselves and fixed the defective product , so in return the manufacturing company could not sue the employer Cornell University for unsafe machines that caused negligence.

My fiancé’s is fighting daily to get justice for this gruesome act. It should be a criminal charge for them withholding evidence and the secrecy surrounding the incident. Her legal findings were thrown out and she is now trying to gain access to her police reports and  statements from the workplace accident. She contacted Cornell University Records Division to get the reports. She was told that the records are sealed and she would have to subpoena for the records. This is malicious behavior, in addition the system is so corrupt that the injustice is not being investigated properly. Injured workers continue to suffer these horrendous conditions daily, as their lives have changed completely from traumatic workplace accidents and injuries that go unreported and unnoticed. 

My fiancé suffers tremendously from this traumatic situation, she has developed severe PTSD, even at times she thinks suicidal thoughts. She currently is seeking therapy for this now. She deserves to be treated equally, as if her life matters, because she almost lost her life due to the increasingly amount of blood loss. She has not been compensated for any disability, any awards, nor a settlement. She was born into this world with all 10 of her fingers and now 9.

Her passion is cooking, she had been employed in food service at the age of 15, being 36 years old with a permanent disability and can no longer work in the food service industry. Her career has been swiped from her forever.

Now imagine being in her shoes for one moment,  she deserves to be compensated for the disfigurement that the negligence of Cornell University. She deserved to be recognized!

Please Stand With Her, Stand With Us, United As One. Show support for equal treatment and protection of African American workers in the workplace. SIGN THE PETITION TODAY.