A former Denver elections worker who says she lost her job after speaking to comedian Jon Stewart about her concerns for the safety of poll workers has settled a lawsuit alleging the city violated her First Amendment rights for $65,000, her lawyer said Friday.
Virginia Chau, a lawyer who worked part-time as a polling center supervisor during elections, spoke in 2022 about threats made against election workers and the lack of training for them during a panel discussion on the short-lived streaming show “The Problem with Jon Stewart" in 2022.
Election offices and workers have been the target of harassment and threats since the 2020 presidential election after President Donald Trump claimed the election was stolen from him because of fraud.
Denver paid Chau $65,000 this week under the settlement agreement, her lawyer, David Lane, said.
Representatives for the city attorney’s office and the clerk and recorder’s office, which runs elections, confirmed a settlement had been reached and pointed out it contained no admission of wrongdoing.
“The Denver Clerk & Recorder is committed to maintaining the public’s trust and confidence, and this situation underscores our commitment to ensuring our employees are trained on our policies and procedures while upholding the safety, security, and integrity of elections,” the office said in a statement.
Chau alleged she was removed as a supervisor because of her comments on the show and told she could be a voting hotline representative instead because no one from the public would recognize her in that job. She considered it a demotion and did not accept the new assignment.
Chau earned about $10,000 a year working on elections, doing the job mostly because, as an immigrant, she felt privileged to live in a democracy, Lane said. He said the loss of her job was devastating.
Chau's lawsuit said she had a right to speak about a matter of public importance as a private citizen under the First Amendment. According to court documents, Denver said Chau was speaking as a government employee about her job and that it did not violate her free speech rights. The city denied she was terminated or demoted, just reassigned.
Lane said the Supreme Court has ruled that people who work for the government still have a right to express their personal views.
“Denver clearly understood they had violated the First Amendment and they responsibly settled the case for less money than it would have cost them had they pushed it further and taken it to trial,” he said.
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