How an Antiquated Colorado Labor Law is Impoverishing Workers

Luis Ponce

Luis Ponce is SEIU Local 105’s Strategic Campaign and Research Director and a 2016 Latino Leadership Institute Fellow. A Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service graduate, he also holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Puerto Rico. His work and experience is focused on the intersection of law, human and labor rights, and community empowerment. In 2014 he served the United Nations Development Program in Peru to support COP-20. Fluent in Spanish, he is also competent in French and Portuguese, and has sought additional certifications in data analytics, political communication, regional and comparative law, and international business transactions in South America and Asia.

Jonathan Perkins

Jon Perkins currently works as a custodian at the Colorado School of Mines, where he is represented by Colorado WINS, the union for state employees. From May-December 2024, he also worked as a research intern for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 105, where he researched and wrote the paper that is the focus of this event. Perkins holds an MA in Political Science and a graduate certificate in History from the University of Colorado-Denver. Before earning these degrees, he worked for the Postal Service as a letter carrier from 2016 to 2020. During that time, he served as a shop steward and congressional liaison for the National Association of Letter Carriers, as well as an executive board member of the Denver Area Labor Federation and the Colorado AFL-CIO. 

Roberto Corrada

Roberto L. Corrada is Mulligan Burleson Chair in Modern Learning and Professor of Law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he teaches administrative law, contract law, employment discrimination law, labor law, and entertainment law. He has published articles on labor, employment, sports, and law teaching in numerous law reviews, including the Wake Forest, Cincinnati, Texas A&M, Chicago-Kent, Houston, and Miami Law Reviews, the Journal of Legal Education, the Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law, and the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law. Professor Corrada has authored casebooks in Employment Discrimination Law (2025), Labor Law (2024), and Administrative Law (2022). He has done extensive work with the Denver Latinx community, including serving on the Board of the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association and helping to form and lead the Denver Urban Debate League, a nonprofit that helps to fund debate programs in the Denver and Aurora public schools. He has served in a variety of administrative roles, including as Associate Dean of the University of Denver College of Law (2005), board chair of the ACLU of Colorado (1998) and chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Labor Law (2002)