HOUSTON -- A group of 23 Houston Police officers has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, accusing the department in a widespread pattern of discriminating against Hispanic officers, KPRC Local 2 Investigates reported.

The lawsuit filed in Houston federal court on Friday states, "The City of Houston has a longstanding history of policies and conduct that discriminate against Hispanic police officers."

The suit was filed on behalf of Lt. Manny F. Zamora and 22 others who claim their workloads are unfair and they are not being fairly paid for being on call to translate into Spanish for other officers.

Their attorney, Ken Hughes, told KPRC Local 2 Investigates that Hispanic officers are being "underpaid."

His lawsuit accuses the city of retaliating against the Hispanic officers who complained about the discrimination. He said each time they filed complaints, their personnel files would be stuffed with complaints alleging various misconduct.

The lawsuit accuses HPD of having an "inadequate number of Hispanic police officers" and so they have a "heavier workload than their non-Spanish speaking counterparts."

Hughes said one reason for the discrimination is that around two-percent of HPD's senior management staff is Hispanic, despite the City of Houston having a population that is 40 percent Hispanic.

The suit also asks a federal judge to issue an injunction to halt another longtime policy at HPD, which requires Spanish-speaking officers to be on-call to translate for others on their days off. The lawsuit says, "As a result, Plaintiffs did not receive a full two days off of work."

Hughes said federal labor laws require workers to get those days off.

HPD spokesman Capt. Bruce Williams told KPRC Local 2 he was aware of the allegations but he did not know that the lawsuit had actually been filed. He said the department could not respond to the lawsuit on a Sunday.

The other officers who are suing the department along with Lt. Zamora are Rosalinda R. Falcon Ybanez, Michael J. Ybanez, David C. Garcia, Urbina P. Hernandez, Florentino C. Martinez, Cesario T. Mosqueda, Phillip J. Guerrero, Toribio R. Hernandez, Jr., David S. Vasquez, Jr., Heraclio A. Chavez, Xavier E. Avila, Jose Selvera, Jr., Francis Dominguez-Eads, Jorge A. Gomez, Jesus Sosa, Macario Sosa, Jr., Domingo Garcia, Jr. Leroy Benavidez, Jaime Luis Escalante, Jesus Montalvo, Rudolfo A. Castaneda, and Francisco T. Fernandez II.

No hearing date has been set, but it is likely to be scheduled in the month of January since the officers are seeking an immediate injunction.